DUBAI // Drivers who speed or jump a red light could be fined according to how much money they make - and on the spot, under new proposals to make traffic offences more painful.
Currently, all drivers pay the same fines. That means that some wealthier drivers collect dozens of tickets, but do not feel much of a financial pinch. They can do so in the knowledge that multiple driving offences will be cleared from their record within a year and that the fines will make no difference to their insurance premiums.
Since most people also only pay their fines once a year, they also fail to make the connection between what they have done wrong and the penalty.
"If someone is earning Dh50,000 (US$13,000) or Dh60,000 a month, a few thousand dirhams worth of fines is nothing," Dr Ali al Marzouqi, the head of public health and safety at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), told the Arab Children's Health Congress yesterday.
"Of course, to some people it is, so it would not be fair to increase the amounts for everyone.
Mr al Marzouqi was one of a number of officials who made a link between the lack of effective penalties and the UAE's dismal road safety record. They indicated the DHA was working with the Roads and Transport Authority on a plan to reduce accidents and deaths that could include linking traffic fines to income and fining people on the spot.
"We can link car insurance to the numbers of fines people get," he added.
"Someone who has been driving safely for the whole year should have a better insurance rate than someone that has had several accidents or speeding tickets."
In most western countries, insurance premiums are calculated according to a driver's record of motoring offences, among other things.
Here, insurance companies do not have access to driving records and any black points for bad driving are erased from driving licences after a year.
Mustafa Vazayil, the managing director of Gargash Insurance, said: "It would be much better if insurance companies had access to drivers' records. Good drivers could be rewarded with lower premiums."
munderwood@thenational.ae
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At a glance
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Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950