The UAE should reduce the age of people eligible to obtain a driving licence from 18 to 16 years because they have become more mature and are safer than alien household drivers, the country’s top traffic officer has said.
Major-General Mohammed Al Zafin, chairman of federal traffic council and assistant to Dubai’s police commander in chief, said he was the first officer to propose the reduction of that age from 18 to 17 years.
“I was the first one to make that proposal but I now believe that those aged 16 years deserve to be given a driving licence,” he told local newspapers.
“I see good social reasons for this…there are families who employ alien drivers although they have young men aged 16 or 17 years, who are safer and more concerned for their families…I also believe that young men aged 16 have become more mature than those of the same ago 10 years ago.”