New UAE traffic laws: Don’t park the ‘wrong’ way
Beware, motorists in Sharjah! Apparently reverse parking your car in a parking space can result in a Dhs 200 fine. Also Dubai Traffic Police plans to introduce new fines for motorists for several offences, including for wearing sunglasses at night.
According to Arabic daily Al Ittihad, a Sharjah resident was surprised to find a fine stuck on his windshield. Confident he did nothing wrong he rushed to the police station, only to receive more bad news.
The fine was issued for ‘abuse of parking’ which not only carried a Dhs 200 penalty fee, but three black points on the driving license as well. All vehicles should now be parked with the back facing the road. Basically, reverse parking is banned in the city of Sharjah.
According to the report, the Sharjah Traffic Police are doing this to “serve the public interest and ensure discipline of roads and parking areas.” No other cities in the UAE plan to implement this ban at the current time.
In other news, Dubai Traffic Police are looking to add a list of new fines for motorists, as well as review older fines in order to “improve the safety standards on the roads.”
Among the new offences, one of them is ‘neglect and lack of attention’ which can result in the motorist attracting a Dhs 400 fine. Another new one is wearing sunglasses and driving at night carries a Dhs 500 penalty.
Other new offences include ‘driving a vehicle in a manner considered to be a threat’ which can result in a Dhs 1000 fine.
Fine for refusal to give your name and address to a traffic police officer has been doubled from Dhs 500 to Dhs 1000.
Having bad tyres can cost you a fine of Dhs 200, up from Dhs 100.
Malfunctioning tail lamps and indicator lamps will invite a fine of Dhs 200.
Also, Dubai Police would like to introduce a new fine of Dhs 1000 for driving a vehicle with an expired registration or driving licence. Not having the vehicle registration and driving licence with you can also result in a fine.
Regarding tinting of windows, anything above 30% can get your car impounded from 15 days to a month.
Another new rule would be all passengers in the vehicle should wear a seat belt. Failure to do so will result in a fine.
A decision to implement the new rules is being considered by the Ministry of Interior who will pass on a decision within the next few months, in which case, they will likely be implemented throughout the UAE as well.
Comments
ROJ
They dont sound severe..
I dont mind these as long as they are implemented fairly and equally among everybody..
Kamran
This news has seen the light of day now whereas I had this very fine stuck on my windshield 3 years back on an inner road in Sharjah. I too was as perplexed to see only 6 cars from the whole parked line that had these fines. On careful observation it dawned on me that those 6 cars including mine were parked in reverse against the pavement. What could I have done about it? Went and paid it!! 🙂
Ironman
Does sound unfair for the driver who parked his car in reverse in Sharjah to be fined AED 200 and penalized 3 black points. The public should’ve been made aware of these new rules by newspaper, radio stations etc.
More-ever it is strange as reverse parking is considered more safe in other regions. In times of emergency (example a fire) you are able to maneuver the car out of the parking much more swiftly and with much more safety when the car is parked in reverse. If the car is parked normally, again in the case of an emergency, due to panic the driver may backup into another car or a pedestrian. IMO, the Sharjah authorities should rethink their strategy.
mitch
How about having your babies in the car without a proper child carseat? they care more about parking than tackle these ingnorants who endager their childrens.
marc
100pc agree.
strange prios here..
mitch
meant to finish the sentence with “…..children’s lives. everyone got the point anyway.
lapirk
wonder how they reached the reverse parking logic?! you park straight and you gotta reverse into moving cars anyway.. weird.
Hell Raiser
We want 86 Full review now! 😛
Abdelkader
We want 86 Full review please.
Abdelkader
Why dislike , this toyota 86 Top Gear like it alot & we do.
Raun
Claps for Honda S2000 & Range Rover..
Kamran
What is the ‘TECHNICAL’ reason behind the new reverse parking ban in Sharjah which adds 3 black points in the license too?!…
Reverse parking is considered as a good parking position to avoid hassles to merge with the traffic flow on roads.
The public must be made aware about such new rules before implementation and instead give priority to other major things such as development of roads and infrastructure in Sharjah in order to have constant traffic flow rather than choc-o-blocs.
Shahzad Haider
Ohhh just checked my fine list I also had a new type of fine for me at least .
“Unable to maintain safe distance while driving”
100% unable to understand how someone can access this thing until he is sitting next to me or I have been moving around the police car (which no one can dare) or police car is being driven with me for while???? HOW…..
And it’s a manual fine…. Handwritten if Someone join lane all of sudden in front of you and at the police man saw you…. Or someone apply brake….. How ????
Manual fines should be signed by two policeman…
shafiq
So parallel parking facing oncoming traffic (opposite direction) is also gonna get fine? Like the range rover in the pic
LS
Reverse parking is quicker and easier (particularly in narrow areas), and is the preferred/recommended way to park in Europe and the US for those reasons. It’s also safer when leaving your parking space.
I don’t understand the logic behind this at all.
aniyanmon
What is the difference in parking reverse and the other way…these guys r trying to make easy money
Graham Doughty
Reverse parking is adopted by all police across Europe, as a retired London police officer and involved in road collisions, I am of the opinion that it is safer for all concerned when you reverse park. This is because it allows the driver a clear and unobstructed view when driving from a parked position. Also it is far more dangerous to reverse out into moving traffic, again this is because the drivers view is obstructed by the parked cars or vehicles.
Omaritto
i totally disagree with this parking fine .. but i think that maybe they think that some people who reverse park come out of the parking without using their hazard lights and that could endanger others of not being able to see them coming out, as oppose to parking the normal way, then when you reverse they will see the reverse light and watch out for you .. but then again .. who wouldnt see a car thats coming out of the parking spot ?!!! reverse parking for years and years is known for its reliability and safety for merging into the road safely and it isnt a violation.
Graham Doughty
Just a thought, has anyone considered that this is being used as Government source of income!! Happens in the UK all the time, especially when dealing with parking fines.
Mohammed Salman
Lol.
Makes the park assist feature pointless.
Shuaib
As far as I remember they taught me how to do reverse parking and now it’s banned cant be happier to leave a country which is Islamic by name sake soon they will implement rules like no farting in public and install thousand sensors in order to catch the offenders
Emma Ratty :)
The reverse parking fine is just joke and another way of extracting more cash from the Expat.
However the other proposed new rules make a fair bit of sense, especially the wearing sunglasses and driving at night rule, what moron would do that one asks?
Due to the general poor standard of driving the ‘neglect and lack of attention’ rule would be a real money spinner for the empty coffers of poor old Dubai.
‘Driving a vehicle in a manner considered to be a threat’ well I presume they include tailgating in this.
Having bad tyres is a no brainer.
Malfunctioning tail lamps and indicator lamps is another good proposed rule.
With the fog and rain season approaching how about a Dhs 5,000 fine for all those idiots who persist in driving with Hazard lights flashing?
Ali
Just show me any survey or on any police records which states that removing a car by driving forward from a parking place caused more accidents compared to removing a car by driving reverse, whereas we have read so many times that a father drove over his child or a man reversing hit another man or drove over him or hit any post while reversing out his vehicle, God knows who is that intelligent person who said reverse parking will be penalised. I agree ONLY IF a car is reversed in an angled parking which is 100% wrong and should be fined but NOT a straight parking.