Dubai Police Traffic Chief Major General Mohammad Saif Al Zafein visits Radio 2 and answers questions from listeners and Gulf News readers. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv
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00:0099.3 and 106, this is Radio 2. I'm Malak Harib. I'll be with you for the next hour. And joining
00:11me in the studio today is Director of Traffic at Dubai Police, Major General Mohammad Saif
00:16Al-Zafin. Welcome to our humble studios. It's a pleasure to have you here.
00:21Questions for the Major General have been coming in on Twitter, on the SMS, phone lines.
00:25So let's take our first caller. We've got Radha on the line who wants to talk about
00:29child safety.
00:30I often see children not wearing seatbelts, hanging out of cars, and overall poor child
00:37safety on roads. I see it happening all the time. What is Dubai Police doing about it,
00:42sir?
00:43Okay. Thank you for the question. Dubai Police is doing their job. They are giving traffic
00:47fines. But it's responsibility of the parents. You know, the problem is sometimes we see
00:55parents who are letting their children to get out of the car. Part of their bodies are
01:00out or sometimes the child is on the top of the car. This is prohibited, illegal. We are
01:07confiscating cars, giving fines. He has to pay like 5,000 dirhams for the fine itself
01:14and for the impoundation of the car. If he agrees on the impoundation, then his car will
01:19be confiscated for two months. Otherwise, he has to pay like 5,000 to 6,000 for the
01:25impoundation period.
01:27And I think the issue came to light recently after the mother who lost her life in Abu
01:32Dhabi, unfortunately, and her three children were injured. Now, on Twitter, Leslie Cully,
01:38who's been campaigning for child seats and child safety, asked a question that's similar
01:42to it. She said that when will the recommendations become a lot now for a seatbelt in the back
01:48and also for children to be put in car seats? What she wants to know is, I know that Dubai
01:53police is doing a lot to, you know, to raise awareness on the issue, but do you guys have
01:58an idea of when this will actually become a law?
02:01Actually, I don't have an idea. But see, always we, in our campaigns, we did a campaign last
02:09year. We distributed car seats, and we distributed like 300 car seats. I wish it comes in the
02:19law tomorrow, but actually, this is a safety issue. Parents take the responsibility of
02:27protecting themselves and their children. If you don't have a car seat, then you have
02:33to let your child sit in the back with someone who is adult, just because, you know, it depends.
02:41If the child is like two years, then he has to be on the laps of his or her mother. So
02:48the mother has to sit in the back. She shouldn't sit in the front, even if she wears the seatbelt.
02:55No, she has to sit in the back. For someone who is like 10 years or 8 years old, he can
03:03still sit in the front and he has to use the seatbelt. See, always we have to play a role
03:10model like parents. If I don't use my seatbelt, definitely my child will not use his seatbelt.
03:17This is the problem that we are facing. We are not being a good role model for our children, period.
03:25Now we have another question that came in from Mohamed Zishan. He says,
03:30vans and trucks drive really badly. They show very poor lane discipline. They carry large goods
03:36that aren't tethered properly, which is a traffic hazard. Why is not enough being done to stop them?
03:43Actually, we are doing our best. In 2012, we gave more than 20,000 violations for heavy vehicles
03:54and 15,000 traffic fines for buses in general. We are doing our job. I understand his concern,
04:05especially on high-speed roads. I think, in my opinion, they have to be separate roads for heavy vehicles.
04:13They should not mix with light vehicles. We are dealing with the RTA in order to just separate
04:22heavy vehicles from passenger cars because they are doing the chaos on our roads. They are doing
04:29the killing, if you will. They count for 20% of the total number of cars and yet they are causing
04:35more than 40% of the total fatality on the road. So we are dealing with the road authority
04:42just to separate them from light vehicles.
04:47And Major General, I know that this became a big issue after the horrific accident in Al Ain recently
04:54where 24 workers died. What I want to know is, is there a law here about how much load a truck can have?
05:00Because I know a lot of these workers were trapped under debris and building material that was on the truck.
05:06Now, I want to know, is there a legal weight limit?
05:10No. As far as I know, there is no weight law at the time being. Our colleagues at the RTA, they have to work
05:18on this one because this is a very big problem we are facing. But it's a technical thing.
05:27They know how much our roads can bear when it comes to the weight loss of the heavy vehicles.
05:34But we are facing the problem that when there is an overturning of these vehicles, it causes, besides injuries,
05:41it causes death and it causes traffic jams for other motorists. So when it comes to heavy vehicles, a concern has to be there.
05:50Again, I wish someone from the RTA should address this problem because it's really a problem when there is an accident.
06:00So putting a weight limit would be coming from them.
06:03Yep.
06:04We have a call from Ramesh.
06:07Sir, actually, I'm a regular road user using the Shakeside Road. I have a question regarding usage of phones, mobile phones.
06:18I see people texting, talking on the phone. Are you planning to come out with strict rules to curb this, you know,
06:31tendency and implement a mobile phone with hands-free only usage policy to reduce the accidents?
06:40Okay, this is a good question. Now, see, I notice this one everywhere, all over the world.
06:48People, they cannot do without their phones, either talking on the phone or texting.
06:54Now, when it comes to talking on the phone, they can do the talk without holding, without having to hold their mobile by hand while driving.
07:02And last year, we gave tickets to 44,000 drivers. The scale of the problem is big.
07:12Even if the police give tickets, still people, they don't care. They will still use the phone because what they say is that we have been using the phone since so long.
07:23And nothing wrong happened. We never had an accident. But I have to tell them, you will never know when an accident happens.
07:31But then it will be too late. You might be, God forbid, dead or, God forbid, injured.
07:38So always our role is to give an advice. Please don't talk on the phone by hand. Don't carry your phone by hand while texting or talking.
07:48You know what else? A lot of people, I mean, they know that that is the law, so they wouldn't talk on the phone.
07:53But then there are other things that drivers do that distract them. For example, texting, eating, reading the paper.
08:00Now, what's really interesting to me now, talking on the phone, you use one hand and that's still dangerous, so it's illegal.
08:06Eating, on the other hand, no pun intended, you use both hands sometimes.
08:11Like, I swear I have seen people eat pasta and cereal while they're driving.
08:16You know, maybe I have to add, somebody gets dressed while driving or somebody has to put hair makeup while driving.
08:23I've seen that, too.
08:24Some people, they, you know, put the kitra and garb or their uniform while driving.
08:30So people, they can do many things when they drive, but after all, their safety is in their hand.
08:37I mean, they have to protect themselves first and then they have to protect others. I mean, by preventing doing such things.
08:44Just recently, there were new things that you added to the traffic fine list.
08:49For example, putting makeup on, wearing your sunglasses at night.
08:52I know that Dubai police has introduced that.
08:54Are you guys thinking of maybe introducing fines for other things, like eating or getting dressed?
08:59You know, this all comes to the same thing, not paying attention while driving.
09:04I mean, I could classify all of what you have mentioned in this category.
09:09We have another question from Elena.
09:12I would like to ask what a motorcyclist and cyclists can do against the abusive action of car drivers by law.
09:20For example, they're telling the cars or bikes or the switching line without giving indicating if we get harms or about harms.
09:27What we can do by law?
09:28Frankly speaking, I am against cyclists to drive on the road because it's very dangerous.
09:35There are no separate lanes for them.
09:38So you have to be careful because, you know, if you hit someone, the law says it considers the bicycle to be a car.
09:46And I have to agree with you. This is something wrong in our law.
09:50We are working on it. Cyclists should not drive on the lane because the lane is a 12-foot lane.
09:57It's barely enough for a car.
10:00Now, when there is a bicycle is on the same lane, then sooner or later you will be hit by the car.
10:07And much damage will be on the part of the bicycle and the cyclist himself.
10:15So I am against a bicycle being driven on the road because it's very dangerous.
10:22One question that has coming in a lot.
10:24I see people do not maintain proper distance while driving.
10:29There is a lot of bullying and tailgating happening.
10:32Also reckless driving when people are weaving in and out of lanes.
10:37What is Dubai police doing to stop that?
10:39The police are doing their job.
10:42They are confiscating cars. They are giving fines.
10:45But, you know, at the end of the day, we don't want to give fines just for the sake of giving fines.
10:51We want to change the behavior of some motorists.
10:54We have a program called We Are All Traffic Policemen or Policewomen, if you will.
11:00The number is 800-4353.
11:03Whenever you see something wrong on the road, you have to report it to this number.
11:06Dial this number and on the other side, someone will answer your phone.
11:11He will call back this guy who did the traffic violation.
11:15They will not give him a traffic violation.
11:18They at least will give him an advice not to do this again.
11:22There is a big problem with flashing your lights.
11:25If you are in the fast lane, sometimes it is uncalled for.
11:29Because you are not driving like 80 kilometers and people flash you from behind.
11:34But sometimes it is because people are going really, really slow.
11:37So what people want to know is if you are getting flashed, what do you do?
11:42I encourage people just not to use the fast lane if you are doing 100 kilometers per hour.
11:48If the speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour.
11:51If you have to do this, okay.
11:52Go to the fast lane and then pull back to the lane next to it.
11:56Because this lane is for the speed limit plus the 20 kilometers gray speed.
12:02So basically give way to the vehicles that are going a bit faster.
12:06And here is a fun question.
12:08Now what I want to know is, I know you have done a lot of studying physics and stuff.
12:13When people are tailgating, they are going at about 120 kilometers.
12:18And they leave very little space in between the cars.
12:21So if a car hits another from the back going at a speed of 120 kilometers, what is that force equivalent to?
12:28If someone is doing 120 kilometers per hour.
12:32And for any reason or other he hits an obstacle or another car without putting the seat belt.
12:43Then the effect of this driver hitting the dashboard or thrown out of the car will be like the effect of someone is falling from the 19th floor of a building.
12:55Wow. 19th floor.
12:58Yeah.
12:59We do have a lot of questions coming in still.
13:01So let's take another call.
13:03The question I want to ask is, is there a law that in zebra crossings a car should give way for pedestrians?
13:09Because I don't see anyone stopping.
13:11They just speed across like it's an F1 race or something.
13:14Okay.
13:16Actually we have some zebra crossings controlled by traffic signals.
13:20So when it's controlled by traffic signals then you have to abide to the law.
13:24When it's red you have to stop.
13:26When it's green you have to proceed.
13:28But I have to agree with you.
13:30We have some zebra crossings not controlled by any signal.
13:33As a driver, if you see a pedestrian just starting to cross, just let him cross.
13:38By pointing to the other lane just to slow down.
13:42I don't want him to cause a trap for the pedestrian, for other motorists.
13:48Now if I speak to the pedestrian, don't cross an uncontrolled zebra crossing if you see cars.
13:57Just don't.
13:59Just wait until all the cars have come to a complete stop, then proceed.
14:03Otherwise, because it's unsafe in my opinion.
14:06And back to our original point that all zebra crossings should be monitored.
14:10Because that's what will solve the problem.
14:12Absolutely.
14:13You heard it right here on Radio 2.
14:15If you do feel like you guys need more cops on the road, more monitoring, please do get in touch with us.
14:21And Major General Mohammad Saif al-Zafin, thank you once again for your time and all the information.
14:27DayZ is up next after the news.