How the Radar Buffer Works on Dubai Roads
Dubai’s fixed speed cameras do not fire the moment a car passes the posted limit. They are set about 20 km/h above it, so on a 100 km/h road a violation registers at 121 km/h or more. This gap is the “grace buffer” drivers talk about. It is a camera setting, not a legal allowance, and the sign is still the limit you are expected to obey.
Dubai versus Abu Dhabi
Reporting from 2022 says the 20 km/h buffer applies in Dubai and the other emirates except Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi removed its buffer in 2018, so radars there match the posted limit and a 100 km/h road registers a violation from 101 km/h. Abu Dhabi also lowers the limit to 80 km/h when visibility drops below 200 metres, and its radars reset automatically to the temporary limit.
In 2021 a Federal National Council member suggested cancelling the buffer across the country. Traffic authorities said there were no such plans and that speed limits cannot be unified, because each emirate sets them from its own technical engineering reports. That is why the same road type can have different limits and radar settings from one emirate to the next.
Why the buffer is a poor target
The buffer tells you where a camera is set, not what is safe or lawful. Limits change along a single road, and temporary limits can apply at roadworks, so a speed that was fine one kilometre back may be well over the limit now. Fines then rise quickly. Under the federal schedule they start at Dh300 and reach Dh3,000, 23 black points and 60 days of vehicle impoundment for driving more than 80 km/h over the limit.
For example roads with their posted and radar speeds, plus the full fine table, see our Dubai radar speed limits guide. For how points accumulate and how drivers can reduce them, read our black points explainer.
The practical advice is simple: watch the signs when you enter a new road, use cruise control on highways, and treat the posted limit as your limit. The 2022 reporting on buffers is the latest we have confirmed, so check with Dubai Police if you need the current setting for a specific road.
The RTA and Dubai Police have also changed the posted limits on five Dubai roads from 1 November 2026, covered in our Dubai speed limit changes report.
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