Around 100,000 vehicles with expired registration pose serious threat to the road users and the environment in the city, said a senior official.
"We are working on plans to issue strict penalties to those who fail to renew the registration of their vehicles. Such vehicles are potentially dangerous as they don't go through the process of annual technical test for road worthiness," said Ahmad Al Bahrouzian, Chief Executive Officer of the Licensing Agency of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The total number of registered vehicles has increased to around one million - an increase of around 150,000 vehicles last year.
The Licensing Agency chief said the Agency would first launch an awareness campaign with the co-operation of Dubai police to educate people about the dangers of using vehicles with expired registration. Currently, a fine of only Dh20 is imposed per month for not renewing the registration of a vehicle. But a motorist gets into trouble with heavy penalties if he or she gets involved in an accident with expired registration.
Bahrouzian said: "There has been phenomenal growth of up to 17 per cent annually in the number of vehicles during the past few years. But this year we expect two to per cent increase in number of vehicles," he added.
There had been drastic reduction in number of new vehicles being registered in the emirate during the last two months. "If this trend continues due to the [global] economic recession, I believe there would be only two to four per cent increase in the number of vehicles this year," he noted.
Earlier, Bahrouzian briefed reporters at a press conference about the Licensing Agency's Strategic Plan for the next two year. "The Agency is revamping its services with focus on upgrading the technical testing of vehicles, policies of vehicle registration and driving licenses, customer services and improved training programmes for learner drivers," he said.
-1 million vehicles on Dubai's roads
-100,000 cars with expired registration
-50,000 driving tests per month
From Gulf News
i read a recent report in Khaleej Times that was very interesting. An Arab woman has run up traffic fines of about AED 73,000/- ($19,800). Motorists in Dubai owe the Dubai Police traffic department a total of AED 27 million....!
the department now has drawn up a list of the top 100 motorists who owe the department the most in traffic fines. The roll of honor includes a Lebanese man who owes AED 70,000/- and an Egyptian man who owes AED 42,000/-. A Syrian woman owes 38,000/- while a Jordanian man owes 23,000/-.