DUBAI: More than 2,000 motorists have been fined for flouting strict new seatbelt laws on Abu Dhabi’s roads in the first two months since the new rules were introduced.
The actual number of seatbelt violations was 2,394, that made up about a third of the overall 7,592 traffic offences committed since July 1, 2017 when they came into force.
But while this might seem like many offenses, Lt. Col. Salah Al-Humairi, deputy director of Abu Dhabi Traffic Police told UAE daily Gulf News it was 37 percent lower than the same period in 2016.
“After implementing the Federal traffic rules from July, the number of violations also reduced as compared to the corresponding months last year where number of traffic violations were registered as 11,991,” he explained.
The new rules require all people traveling in a vehicle to be wearing seatbelts, including passengers in the rear seats, while children under 4-years-old must be placed in a special safety seat.
The series of new traffic rules are aimed at reducing the number of injuries and deaths on the UAE’s roads.
Figures produced by the World Health Organization show that wearing seatbelts lowers the risk of death in accidents for front seat passengers by 40 to 50 percent and by up to 75 percent for those in rear seats.
Failure to comply with the seatbelt laws carries a fine of 400 dirhams ($109) and four black penalty points on the driver’s license.
Hundreds of UAE motorists flouting new seatbelt laws
Hundreds of UAE motorists flouting new seatbelt laws
In major policy shift on Syria, UN Security Council lifts sanctions on Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham
- Move reflects evolving Syrian political landscape in the post-Assad era, ending a global freeze on assets, travel ban and arms embargo
NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council on Friday removed Al-Nusra Front, the militant group that evolved into Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, from its so-called Daesh and Al-Qaeda Sanctions List.
The move signals a major shift in international policy toward Syria’s evolving political landscape in the post-Assad era, and ends a global freeze on assets, travel ban and arms embargo that have been imposed on the group since 2014.
Al-Nusra Front and Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham were led by Ahmad Al-Sharaa, formerly Abu Mohammed Al-Julani, who is now Syria’s president and was a leading figure in the offensive that toppled the Assad regime.
The consensus decision by the Security Council’s sanctions committee was announced by the UK, which holds the presidency of the Security Council this month and was acting in the absence of the chair of the committee. It followed a request by the new Syrian authorities to delist “Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant.”
The decision means measures that were applied to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham under Security Council Resolution 2734, adopted in 2024, no longer apply. As a result, UN member states are notrequired to freeze the group’s funds, restrict the movement of its representatives, or block the supply or transfer of arms and related materiel.
Al-Nusra Front was added to the sanctions list for its ties to Al-Qaeda and involvement in the financing and execution of militant activities during the war in Syria. The UN initially continued to treat the group’s successor organization, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, as a listed alias.
Al-Sharaa has said the group severed all prior transnational jihadist links and is now solely focused on local Syrian matters.
