UAE, Estonia, Slovenia ink pact on driving licences

DUBAI: Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, signed with Urmas Reinsalu, the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Jernej Vrtovec, Minister of Infrastructure of the Republic of Slovenia, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to recognise and swap driving licences between the UAE, Estonia and Slovenia.

The MOU aims to facilitate the movement of holders of driving licences of the three countries whether they are a visitor or a residence in either of the countries.

According to the MOU, the driving licences issued by the UAE, Slovenia, and Estonia can be swapped in any of these countries without subjecting the driver to driving tests.

Separately, a total of 764 drivers of registered vehicles in Abu Dhabi benefited from traffic point reduction courses and retrieved their driver’s licences over the previous nine months of 2020, WAM reported.

Colonel Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Al Buraiki, Director of Police Monitoring and Community Security Care at the Abu Dhabi Police, ADP, highlighted the ADP’S keenness to promote security and community awareness, by adopting traffic safety systems and requirements and supporting them with a training programme for drivers to promote safety. He explained that the programme, conducted in Arabic, English and Urdu, focusses on training traffic law violators by enrolling them in specialist lectures and courses, noting that drivers can take part in the programme only once per year, with eight traffic points being deducted ater completion for those who have accumulated 23 traffic points or less.

Drivers with 24 traffic points will normally have their licences confiscated and suspended for three months, but they will be exempted if they pass the training course, he added while pointing out the programme is continuing during the coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic.

The number of enrolled drivers has decreased, and they were contacted in their mother tongues to ensure adherence to precautionary and preventive measures, he further added.

The programme also raises the awareness of drivers of the importance of safe driving and teach them how to address traffic points and promote positive behaviours, to avoid the suspension of their licences, he noted.

Al Buraiki urged drivers to follow traffic laws and regulations to avoid fines and vehicle seizures, as well as to protect everyone’s safety.