Dh176m in discounted traffic fines paid

DUBAI // More than Dh176 million in traffic fines have been paid since Dubai Police announced its 30 per cent discount on September 11.

The programme, which was originally due to end on December 11, was to encourage drivers to pay fines built up over time.

But this week Dubai Police increased the discount to 40 per cent and extended it to January 10.

The discount applies to all fines issued before December 2.

About Dh369m of fines were owed to the traffic department at the start of the discount period, officials said.

In the first month the number of traffic fines paid rose by 74 per cent, compared with the month before.

Police issued more than 1.76million traffic fines in the first nine months of this year, and about 64 per cent of these - 1.13 million - were for speeding, they said. Speeding fines are usually Dh600.

Maj Gen Mohammed Al Zaffin, the head of the Dubai Police traffic department, has said that the increase in number of payments was mainly because of the reductions in fines.

Last year, Dubai Police collected more than Dh1billion in traffic fines, most of which came from speeding offences.

wissa@thenational.ae