Campaigns Net Thousands of Unsafe Tyres in UAE

According to the Khaleej Times, the use tyre market is alive and kicking in some parts of Abu Dhabi. Healthy demand exists for larger size commercial vehicle tyres, with examples changing hands from between Dh 200 and 700. However the country’s authorities are increasingly voicing their concern over the practice of fitting used tyres to vehicles: According to Colonel Hamad Adeel Al Shamsi, director of the Abu Dhabi Police’s Department of Traffic and Patrols, used tyres were responsible for the death of 13 persons and severe injuries of 16 persons last year. For this reason the department has intensified its inspection of substandard and worn out tyres and launched campaigns to educate motorists about the importance of safety of tyres.

Included in this campaign is a series of penalties intended to serve as a deterrent. For the heavy vehicles, the penalty for using sub-standard tyres is confiscation and impounding of the truck for a week, a fine of Dh 500 plus 6 demerit points from the driver’s license. In a two-week campaign ending early July, Abu Dhabi police confiscated 2,750 light and heavy vehicles on tyre related infringements. In the city of Al Ain, police impounded 645 vehicles during a similar two-week programme.