Thousands of drivers fined for parking in disabled bays in Dubai

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Thousands of drivers fined for parking in disabled bays in Dubai More than 10,000 motorists have been fined for parking in disabled bays in Dubai this year – prompting police to launch a new drive to change public behaviour. The Dubai Police traffic department said it had issued 10,265 fines to people parking in handicapped spaces in the first 11 months of this year. The force said there has been a steady increase in the last three years in such violations. Colonel Jamal Al Bannai, deputy head of Dubai Traffic Police, said: “Parking in a handicapped spot is not only against the traffic law, but is a violation of the rights of people with disability.” To tackle the problem, Dubai Police launched a 10-day awareness campaign yesterday. The campaign ‘Stand by their side… Not in their spot’ will include messages on social media and radio in three languages: Arabic, English and Hindi. The police will also distribute booklets and organise seminars. In 2014, 9,409 fines were issued and in 2013 there were 8,317. The fine for parking in a handicapped parking spot is Dhs1,000 and four black points. “There are very few handicapped spaces available in comparison to regular parking spots – they form maybe 1 per cent of all parking spots – and still people park in them even if there are regular spots available,” said Al Bannai. Dubai Police earlier installed a monitoring device to catch people who park in handicapped spaces at Dubai Mall and work is under way to install more in the other malls across the city. Colonel Dr Jasem Mirza, head of the security awareness department at Dubai Police, said the issue is a concern for many. “The popular Arabic radio show the Direct Line has been receiving many complaints on the issue. That is why we thought this would be a good time to launch this campaign,” he said. wafa.issa@7days.ae Read the original story at: Thousands of drivers fined for parking in disabled bays in Dubai