Community service drops traffic-related crimes in Abu Dhabi by 90 per cent

The National -- There has been a 90 per cent drop in traffic-related crimes in Abu Dhabi since the enforcement of community service orders, judicial chiefs have said.

The capital registered 69 traffic cases where offenders performed different community service penalties from March to August.

Abdullah Al Mansour, director of Abu Dhabi Traffic Prosecution, also said it recorded 20 cases in the first half of the year which it classified as ''serious'' compared with 35 cases in the same period last year.

''The month of August saw the highest number of cases at 16,'' Mr Al Mansour said.

The figures were released by Abu Dhabi Judicial Department late on Wednesday, with the department noting a decline of 90 percent in traffic-related crimes following the enforcement of the community service punishment.

Further details on the statistics and the cases were not immediately available.

But community service has been increasingly used by judges since the start of the year with most of the offenders being young reckless drivers.

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 in Abu Dhabi against an Emirati “jobless youth” after he was convicted of driving his car to show off “in a crazy manner” under what prosecutors classified as dangerous circumstances, considering the heavy rain. He was ordered to clean the streets for three months.

Since then there has been at least a dozen of such sentences issued by Abu Dhabi Courts. 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.