Source: Emirates Today – Dubai
The Dubai Traffic Court convicted a young man who caused injuries to a pedestrian after hitting him while he was crossing at a designated pedestrian crossing, then fled the accident scene without providing the necessary assistance to the injured person. The court also convicted the vehicle owner for allowing him to drive despite knowing that he did not hold a valid driving licence.
The court sentenced the driver to a fine of AED 5,000 and the vehicle owner to a fine of AED 1,000. The ruling was based on the defendants’ confessions, as well as the traffic report and accident diagram, which established their responsibility for the incident.
Case details revealed that the first defendant was driving a vehicle owned by the second defendant in the Al Raffa area, despite not possessing a valid driving licence authorising him to operate that type of vehicle. While driving, he failed to take into account road conditions or pay sufficient attention to other road users. He also failed to reduce his speed when approaching a designated pedestrian crossing, resulting in him colliding with the victim while he was crossing the road and causing bodily injuries, in addition to damage to the vehicle.
The driver then left the accident scene without stopping, providing assistance to the injured person, or requesting an ambulance, in violation of the legal obligations imposed on anyone who causes a traffic accident.
In its reasoning, the court stated that the first defendant’s liability was not limited to causing the accident, but extended to a series of violations that began with driving without a valid licence, followed by failing to consider road conditions and reduce speed at the pedestrian crossing, and ended with leaving the scene despite causing injury to another person. These violations were established through the traffic report, accident diagram, post-accident inspections, and his admission during the investigation record.
The court further stated that the case documents proved the responsibility of the second defendant after it was established that he had allowed the first defendant to drive his vehicle while knowing that he did not possess a driving licence issued by the competent licensing authority in the UAE. The court considered this conduct as participation—through agreement and assistance—in the offence of driving a vehicle without a licence, noting that the offence would not have occurred in this manner had he not permitted him to drive.
The court confirmed that the defendants’ confessions were consistent with the traffic report, inspections, and accident diagram, which reinforced the conviction that the offence had been proven against them. It also noted that the Dubai Court of Cassation has established that trial courts may rely on any evidence they find convincing and may accept a defendant’s confession whenever they are satisfied of its accuracy, even if they derive from it the facts revealed by the case records.
The court indicated that the three offences attributed to the first defendant—causing injury by mistake, damaging property belonging to others, and leaving the accident scene without justification—were interconnected and resulted from a single act. Accordingly, the court applied the rules of legal concurrence and granted the defendants some leniency due to the circumstances of the case.
The driver was fined AED 3,000 for the related offences and AED 2,000 for driving without a licence, bringing the total fine to AED 5,000. The vehicle owner was fined AED 1,000 for allowing an unlicensed person to drive his vehicle.