Reckless drivers get community service
Four Emiratis and a fifth man were sentenced to community service after being convicted of reckless driving.
The men were found guilty in three separate cases that involved driving offences in the Al Dhafrah region.
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department released pictures of the men sweeping the streets, filling up motorists’ cars at petrol stations and gardening outside public buildings.
This type of punishment is becoming more common after first being used by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, in February.
The first Emirati defendant was convicted of driving recklessly and putting other road users’ lives in danger. He then refused to follow police orders and “swerved dangerously”, endangering the police patrol that was chasing him.
The court ordered him to complete three months’ community service and to pay a Dh16,000 fine for driving without a licence. He was also found guilty of making a lot of noise on the road, driving a car without a number plate and doing so without the permission of the vehicle owner.
The second case involved two Emiratis who attacked one another and damaged each others’ cars.
Prosecutors said they endangered their own lives when the first man deliberately crashed into the car of the other. They were also convicted of reckless driving. A third defendant, from another GCC country, was found guilty of allowing the second man to drive his car without a driver’s licence. They were sentenced to two months’ community service each and the first man’s car will be confiscated for a year.
The last case involved an Emirati youth driving a car without a number plate and causing noise on the road.
He was sentenced to a month’s community service and fined Dh500. His driver’s licence will be also confiscated for three months.
Prosecutors said they would be following up with the performance of the young men during their community service, and if they failed to do the assigned jobs, they would be instructed to perform another form of community service.
Abu Dhabi attorney general Ali Al Buloushi said such traffic offences have been on the rise during the summer holidays among youths between the ages of 18 and 30.
Community service as a punishment is designed to give offenders a chance to abide by the rules and learn from their mistakes, he said.
The law was updated last year to include community service as a penalty for a number of offences and as a substitute for imprisonment.
On March 1, Abu Dhabi established a special prosecution department for cases that community service orders apply to, so efforts and expertise could be focused on this type of punishment.
Later that month, the first community service sentence was issued against an Emirati “jobless youth”.
In Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed used the sentence again for two men who got two dogs to kill a cat. They were told to clean Dubai Zoo for three months.