As per the media reports, the first half of 2009 registered almost three-fold increase in traffic offences in Abu Dhabi, with over 700,000 motorists being caught violating traffic laws, with 'speed' topping the list of violations.

Says Colonel Hamad Adeel Al Shamsi, director of Traffic and Patrols Department in Abu Dhabi Police that as compared to 261,937 traffic offences during first half of last year, 705,377 traffic offences were recorded during first half of this year.

The reason behind this increase is the installation of number of radars on the emirate's highways and internal roads.

Al Shamsi affirmed that in order to prevent motorists from breaking road safety rules, extensive traffic awareness campaigns had been launched.

He continued: "Breaching of speed limits accounted for 433,202 violations. The next phase of awareness campaign will focus on drivers who violate speed limits."

Other than this, the figures also presented a rise in a number of other offences - of which 39,215 people were responsible for parking violations, 29,841 for disrupting traffic and 30,685 for not using the seat belt.

Al Shamsi concluded: "The traffic campaigns this year would also focus on curbing offences such as rash swerving on the road, failing to maintain enough distance between the cars and reckless driving. Police will also exercise efforts to prevent motorists from driving under the influence of alcohol, which is a major cause of accidents."