Big drop in Sharjah red light violations after radar modification

The Sharjah Police modified 57 radars in the emirate last year and it proved right.
According to a report issued by the Traffic Department, compared to 26,619 in 2014, last year has seen only 23,214 red light violations.
Addressing a Press conference, Jamal Abu Afra, Director of Road Control and Monitoring Department, said that the Sharjah Police have intensified its efforts to curb red light jumping to ensure safety for motorists, as well as pedestrians.
He said that radars have been modified to detect over-speeding and jumping the red-light.
In addition to this, 10 new radars and cameras have been installed on vital roads to detect the motorists who have a tendency to drive along the yellow box and those who do not obey lane rules, which recorded 155,440 violations in 2015.
Based on Article 9 of the federal traffic law, the violators will face Dh800 in fine and incur 8 black points and impounding of the cars for two weeks. Those who would need their impounded vehicles to be released immediately have to pay up to Dh1,500.
Lt Saud Al Shaibah, Head of the Awareness Section at Traffic Department said that the signals have been installed to organise the traffic and to give priority for pedestrians to cross the road.
Radars have been installed at 75 per cent of the intersections and by the end of 2016 all the intersections will be equipped with the radars in the emirate.
Meanwhile, police officers will be deployed in intersections that have no radars to monitor the motorists.
The jumping of the red light is one of the dangerous violations that the cause fatal accidents, or serious injuries to motorists as well as pedestrians.
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com

• Sharjah