Speeding will cost you 200 dhs (this might have gone up to 500 dhs by the time you read this) per flash from the camera – fines are payable all together when you renew your car registration annually. This can be unpleasant as one mother discovered a few years ago after having gone too fast past the same camera every day for several months when dropping her children off at school. The bill was apparently more than the value of the car. Most residents will collect a handful of speeding fines during the course of the year without always being aware of them.
There is usually a tolerance of 10-20 kph built into the speed cameras. Most cars have speedometers that are deliberately set to read a slightly higher speed than you’re actually doing. This is done by the manufacturer, it’s not anything to do with traffic law in Dubai. If you put larger tyres on your car, the reading will drop though (you’ll be driving faster than what the speedo says – which probably explains the unexpected flash aimed at my car recently).
Speed limit signs are usually posted just after a speed camera.
Note that cameras in Dubai take photos as you drive towards them, but in Abu Dhabi they take photos after you drive past.
Note also that it’s not very nice to undertake (overtake in a lane to the right of them) someone driving slowly as they go past a speed radar. If you’re over the speed limit, the camera is likely to go off and they’ll possibly get the fine, especially if you’re in a position relative to the car such that your vehicle doesn’t appear on the speed camera photo.
General speed limits in UAE are (with some specific limits for certain roads):
40 kph on small suburban streets
60 or 80 kph on main roads (but not usually highways or motorways)
70 kph on Jumeirah Beach Road (new since the improvements were completed in July 2006)
100 or 120 kph on highways
120-140 kph on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway. The 160 kph limit between Dubai and Abu Dhabi that was mentioned in the news in 2006 seemed to be urban legend, very few drivers exceed 140 kph past the speed cameras (up to February 2007 at least). Later reports indicated that the limit was 140 km/hr on the Abu Dhabi side of the Abu Dhabi-Dubai border with a 20 km/hr tolerance effectively allowing drivers to hit the ton. But after a second bad fog related accident involving over 100 cars in March 2011 (there was a 300 car pile-up at the same place in 2008), news reports announced that the limit would be reduced to 140 km/hr.
Al Khawaneej Road (from Dubai International Airport to Mirdiff) speed limit was reduced from 100 kph to 80 kph in Dec 2006.
Financial Center Road Upper Deck looks like a 100 kph road but limit is only 80 kph (in 2010 and 2011 at least).
