Starting from today, if you behave an obedient kid on the roads, abiding by all the rules for one full year, you stand a golden chance to get all your accumulated fines waived off as part of the new scheme announced by the Dubai Police on Wednesday. The scheme is such that the longer you avoid committing a mistake, the higher the discount. That is, if you abide by the rules and regulations for the first 3 months, you can avail a discount of 25%.

If you are not so brittle at maintaining such obedience, then after 6 months you get a discount of 50% which is half of the amount waived off. If you can go on well for as long as 9 months without a blot on the white sheet, you get a discount of 75%. And if you are really careful on the roads till December 31 of this year, say yey, because that means you dont have to pay a penny in the name of the fines you have accumulated. In essence, if you are ready to behave on the roads starting from today till the end of the year, you get a 100% discount on your fines.

Hell-bent on disciplining its drivers, Dubai is in for the game and many drivers who have been heedless so far have taken strong decisions to abide by the rules for the rest of the year. Many residents have already embraced the new scheme with so much enthusiasm owing to their whopping amounts of fines ranging up to 5-digits against their licences. Those with a lower amount are also relieved to hear the news as it would be mean money saved.

The response of those without any pending fines is that they would experience better road behaviour by co-drivers on the road. The monetary exchange for discipline on the roads also adds to the many elements of the Year of Tolerance. With the offer tantalizingly hanging as a reminder until the end of the year before each driver, now most of them would try their best to stay away from committing any violation on the road.

This would create room for tolerance on the road as well. With lesser mistakes committed, comes lesser dangers on the road. The Dubai Police deserves to be lauded for this mutually benefiting initiative that will conspicuously pave the way for safer roads.