Grace period for vehicles registration extended

The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) on Tuesday announced extension of the grace period for vehicles whose registration had expired more than two years ago.

Pushed from October 2010, the new deadline would be January 2011.

The decision has been taken in order to allow motorists extra time to have their vehicles tested and registered in accordance with the system in place in the emirate.

The CEO of RTA's Licensing Agency Ahmed Hashim Bahrozyan said the Agency would start writing off vehicles with expired registration of more than two years and have them off the roads after January 2011 in order to safeguard the lives of road users in ?Dubai Emirate.

"Failure to turn up a continuously operated vehicle for a comprehensive check-up for more than two years renders it a non-safe transport means and poses a threat to its driver, passengers and cargo besides putting the road users in extreme jeopardy," said ?Bahrozyan.

"By taking this course of action, RTA is targeting a big chunk of motorists who do not bother to renew their vehicles registration that had expired long ago.

"Their attitude shows that they do not appreciate the importance of renewing their vehicle registration. By persisting this erroneous attitude they are exposing their lives as well as other peoples' lives to danger, and exposing their vehicles to damage as the years pass by," he added.

There are already several options for motorists to get vehicles tested and registered and more is being added to offer greater convenience for people.

Besides opening several centres that run 24/7, registration and renewal of driving licence could be done online and soon it could be done through the RTA call centre as well.

According to RTA's database there are currently 1,025,169 vehicles plying in Dubai.

Khaleejtimes.com, 29 September 2010