UAE police warn motorists against driving while distracted

Dubai police are planning to crackdown on distracted drivers including those eating while driving in the emirate, in a bid to make the city's streets safer.

Drivers caught taking a quick bite behind the wheel could be slapped with a $272 fine and a 12 point penalty, and follows a list of other driving no-no's that police hope to make law.

This includes logical moves such as banning motorists watching television while on the road, or trimming beards, applying make-up and fixing traditional head-dress.

Police say that swerving is the leading cause of accidents in the UAE, and many of these accidents are caused by distracted drivers.

"All these offences will be classified under one offence involving failure by the drivers to concentrate on the road by getting busy with other things," Major General Mohammed Saif al-Zafin, assistant police commander-in-chief for operations, told al-Bayan.

"The new law also involves impounding the offender's car if it is proved that the offence endangered human lives."

Officers also want to ban motorists smoking electronic shisha, reading, and combing hair while in the driving seat, in a bid to reduce the country's relatively high road death rates.

The UAE - like other Gulf countries - has for many years had some of the highest road accident death rates in the world, but a clampdown on dangerous driving has sharply reduced accidents.

However, motorists in the UAE are still around eight times more likely to die on the roads than drivers in the UK.