The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai can now tow and impound cars, big trucks, and trailers that violate federal and local rules and regulations.
The authority signed an agreement with Emirates Parkings, which entitles RTA to do so.
“The agreement enhances the impounding system and links it with the traffic and electronic systems to enable sharing of information about seized vehicles and calculating the applicable fees,” the RTA said in a statement.
This will further “revamp the system” for maintaining car data, referred to as the Vehicle Sale Committee, and retaining all auction records for such vehicles.
Vehicles that might be towed or impounded include loaded or empty light and heavy vehicles; trailers of all sorts, including mobile caravans and food carts; boats; and bicycles.
Vehicles spotted in the field and found in violation of the authority’s rules, and regulations can be towed or impounded by the passenger transport activities monitoring department, rail right-of-way department, right-of-way department, licencing activities monitoring department, parking department, and any other RTA department.
The authority will also have access to information on all impounded cars, according to the deal, while Emirates Parkings will operate the impounding yard, including supplying security cameras and qualified people.
However, the procedure of releasing vehicles is determined by the circumstances of each vehicle, according to the statement.
“If the seizure was a result of a technical traffic violation, the vehicle will be released after the designated period, and the fine is paid. In case of a technical traffic violation caused by a technical malfunction, the vehicle will not be released until the issue causing the impoundment has been resolved,” the authority said.
The authority added: “The vehicle will be released after RTA receiving of all the outstanding fees associated with the impounded vehicle. The payment can be made through RTA-approved payment channels and the customers centre at the Emirates Parkings.”
