At a recent meeting, the Federal Traffic Council of the UAE has recommended that car owners be allowed to install dash cams, this is according to a report by Arabic language paper Emarat Al Youm. 

Cameras on dashboards are currently technically not permitted in the UAE because they may record people without their permission. But the council has said they may be a good idea as they would act as a record of what’s happening on the roads, especially in the case of an accident.

Major-General Mohammed Saif Al Zafin, Chairman of the Federal Traffic Council and Assistant Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police for Operations, mentioned a case in which one person was hit by a car twice in the same month, and in exactly the same location.

“Having a camera would reveal what happened,” he said.

*More: Do you drive and use your phone at the same time? Read this*

The council noted that the cameras would not violate the privacy of others, as they would be focussed entirely on the road.

dubai traffic

Anyone who regularly trawls YouTube will know how prolific dash cams are in Russia (due to police corruption and the high rate of accidents). In Austria dash cams are illegal, while in Australia they are legal on the condition that they’re only used on public roadways and aren’t invasive of other’s privacy. In Germany, they are permitted, but then the posting of the videos from them online isn’t (which we imagine would be the case in the UAE if they became legal).

Remember, this is just a recommendation in the UAE at the moment, so don’t go installing a dash cam yet. We’ll let you know when and if it becomes official.

– What do you think, are dash cams a good idea? 

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Photo: Getty.