By Dina Aboul Hosn gulfnews.com
Police have warned the public against using sirens in the cars to get past congested areas by misleading other drivers into thinking they were an emergency vehicle.
Lieutenant Colonel Aref Bu Shagar, Director of Qusais Police Station, said the sirens, sold at car accessory shops and the Dragon Mart posed a risk that could jeopardise the lives of users and other road users, pointing out that police will be strict with anybody who jeopardises peoples’ lives.
Bu Shagar warned shop owners to stop selling these equipment or else face legal action.
“It had been noticed lately that some youth take laws and regulations lightly and equip their cars with sirens, which are sold unannounced at some car accessory shops, with the purpose of getting past congestion areas by tricking the public into believing that their car is an emergency vehicle belonging to police or an ambulance,” Bu Shagar said.
Field monitoring resulted in seizing a number of violating vehicles in various locations, the last of which was in Qusais last Friday.
The owner of this vehicle used a 220-volt siren light attached to an electric transformer that transforms it to 12-volt power to be able to use the vehicle’s electrical power.
Dangerous practice
The owner was caught driving the car with the siren on, and other drivers were giving way because they thought his car was a police vehicle facing an urgent situation.
Bu Shagar said the risk in using these equipment lies not only in deceiving the public and committing a violation, but may be in the siren itself, because the electrical transformer used can be of low quality and cause a problem in the car which can lead it to burning.
He said a police patrol driver is trained and able to control his car, while those imitating police patrols may put their lives and other peoples’ lives at risk, while also facing legal action.
