Today DH went to re-register his car.  This is an annual event which every vehicle in the UAE must undergo.  Re-registration requires that one’s car must pass a basic roadworthiness assessment.  A mechanic drives off with the car, does a few simple checks, mainly safety checks, and usually returns with a tick in the right box.  The fee is paid and an updated car registration card is issued fresh from the printer.

Today, however, the requisite tick was not obtained without DH gritting his teeth, raising his eyes and begrudgingly handing over his credit card (and not to mention thinking of revoking my drivers licence….which he has the authority to do!).

The thing is, DH is the registered owner of his car and my car.  The other thing is that I drive a lot more than DH each week. I do the work commute,  school pick up, after school activities’ runs, and any other miscellaneous ‘things to do’  runs that require attention before the day is out.

The final thing to note is, one cannot register one’s car until all fines on all cars in one’s name are cleared.

In my 5+ years of driving in Dubai, I have never noticed a speed camera flash me!  The speed limit on Sheikh Zayed Road is 100km but it seems the cameras do not care for anything until it hits 120km+  However it seems the handheld police-held speed cameras on the highway’s flyovers are a teeny bit more sensitive.

With the geographical logistics of my driving routes each day, and more because I never seem to be able to leave work on time, I am required to drive a tad faster than I should do.  My route to the school pick catapults me down SZR.    I have even joked with my bosses they may need to fork out for any post-work-pre-school-pick-up speeding fines.

Oh, how jokes come home to roost…….AED1,800 (Euros360/GBP300) speeding fines roosted happily on DH’s credit card……sigh