Dubai plans curbs on professional drivers

Professional drivers seeking a new or renewal of their licence will have to submit a health certificate showing they are free of serious diseases as part of new rules to be issued by Dubai soon, according to local authorities. 

The new law is expected to be issued before the end of 2012 and will be confined to drivers of school buses, taxis, trucks and other professional drivers before it is expanded to cover all drivers through the UAE, the Roads and Telecommunications Authority (RTA) said. 

It did not specify those diseases but according to a local medical study, they include epilepsy, sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, sudden bouts of diabetes, brain surgery, chronic renal failure and other illnesses. 

“The new rules will be first applicable on professional drivers given the seriousness of their work as they are responsible for a large number of lives of different ages,” said Ahmed Bahrouzian, licensing director at RTA. 

“Truck drivers will also be covered by this rule as most of them drive for long distances and this increases dangers in case they have serious diseases,” he told the Dubai-based Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum. 

He said RTA would release a guide book soon listing conditions to obtain licences for those drivers and the diseases which bar them from driving. 

He said the enforcement of such rules on all drivers require the issuance of a number of medical and traffic legislations through all emirates. 

“This means that we should wait for the issuance of the planned federal law requiring all drivers to submit a health certificate for renewing or obtaining licence,” he said.

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