Radical new proposals to curb traffic :: EmiratesToday

Quote:

A top municipal official has outlined radical new proposals to reduce congestion and accidents in Dubai. His ideas include:

* Limiting new vehicle registrations to 10,000 over the next two years. Last year more than 160,000 new vehicles were registered, of which nearly 137,000 were cars.
* Introducing toll gates on all entry points to Dubai emirate.
* Installing bus or public transport-only lanes on major roads and highways.
* On the spot fines for traffic offences and a system where motorists are notified unlike at present where they have to make inquiries to find out if they have been fined.
* Increasing police presence at traffic interchanges during peak hours.
* Traffic safety awareness campaigns in Indian and Pakistani languages to target the majority expatriate population of Dubai, in addition to the current programmes which are aimed at Arabic and English speakers.

On the spot fines would be more likely to result in changed behavior.

Limiting the number of new car registrations presents an interesting finger exercise in economics. How will the new registrations be allocated? Will you be able to sell your registration to someone else? And, if not, will potential newcomers to Dubai be turned off by the prospect of not being able to own a car? Will people live in Sharjah in order to be able to register a car?

Why not just increase the fee for registering a vehicle, and for renewing registration?