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Stiff penalties for using mobiles while driving in Dubai

Dubai - The move is meant to deter offending drivers in the wake of increasing road accidents and violations as a result of using the phone while behind the wheel.

Any motorist spotted using a mobile phone - even when stopped at a red light - will be booked, according to Colonel Saif Mohair Al Mazruwaei, Director of the General Department of Traffic of Dubai Police. 
Citing a circular issued by the Ministry of the Interior, Col. Al Mazruwaei referred to a proposal demonstrating at the Federal Traffic Council on enforcing stricter violations for the use of mobiles while driving, increasing the fine from Dhs200 to Dhs1,000, impounding the vehicle for a month and adding 12 demerit black points to the driver's traffic record. 
He noted that the move is meant to deter offending drivers in the wake of increasing road accidents and violations as a result of using the phone while behind the wheel. 
 "A person died in a horrific traffic accident with a mobile phone he was clutching while he was trapped inside the car", he said, adding the accident took place as the driver used the phone while he was on the road. 
"Traffic payrolls also monitored a driver ram into a man who was standing on the pavement of the road, because he did not take notice that he had mowed him down, and another incident was reported of a pedestrian whose mobile phone fell on the road, and when he tried to pick it up a car knocked him and he was killed instantly," he noted. 
According to Col. Al Mazruwaei, traffic department statistics show that the number of mobile-phone related violations has risen in the last three years, from 35,734 in 2013 to 46,643 in 2014. Additionally, in 2013, 770 violations were lodged through by the public through the "We are All Police" program, 946 in 2014, and 1,216 last year. 
reporters@khaleejtimes.com