The traffic laws in Dubai are actually very very strict, and are only getting stricter by the day.. whereas you could get off with a fine in a lot of other countries, everything here is turning towards car confiscation.
Pursuits are not allowed in Dubai, and thats why some might think that the police let the violators go, although its not the case, they can easily file the violation into the system without the recognition/signature of the violator. Especially since mid last year, the roads are getting absolutely FILLED with speed cameras (both normal and hidden) and there are many more police cars patrolling everywhere. Starting 1st of March, the new laws which will be introduced will be absolute overkill..
Having lived in Dubai all my life, I do understand that theres quite a big problem on our roads, but id say 95% of it is due to the very cheap & completely uneducated labor workers, most of which come from a very rural / country background (and when I say completely uneducated, I mean they are COMPLETELY clueless about modern civilisation and its rules, acceptable behavior and codes of conduct
). Its common for those people to speed up whenever you indicate that you wanna change lanes just to block you off, and its also a common thing that people cut into a lane over a yellow line rather than queing up from the back.. Not to mention trying to invent a new lane between 2 nearby cars. Its just a very agressive atmosphere where those workers think they can cut corners and do as they like (which is what they probably did back home where they came from).
Claiming that most locals in Dubai are reckless and disregard the laws, as well as the police not even trying to do anything, is a very obnoxious statement, and just shows your level of incompetence and lack of knowledge. Sure, there are some reckless locals, as there are reckless individuals in every nationality.. but dont stereotype the whole nation please. Bear in mind im only talking about Dubai, not any other Emirate (That wrecked M3 is from Abu Dhabi btw) and certainly not Saudia Arabia.