A Purposeful Legal Analysis of Blockchain and Traffic Justice in the Context of Emirati Digital Transformation

Abstract

With the digital revolution in full swing, traffic management has come to be recognized as a crucial testing ground for decentralized technologies that can help improve evidentiary soundness and institutional accountability. The present study seeks to solve the issue of whether blockchain technology can be applied effectively toward the promotion of traffic justice in the UAE in a manner compatible with the tenets of Islamic Sharia and the country’s digital governance strategy, amid broader governance questions concerning data integrity, responsibility for automated decision-making, and the evidentiary treatment of records generated by increasingly digital traffic-management systems. Using a descriptive analytical, non-empirical research approach, the study formulates a conceptual five-layer blockchain model for data gathering, identity validation, permissioned network functioning, consensus-based transaction processing, and dispute resolution services and tests it through a review of secondary materials from UAE regulatory documents, blockchain research, and Islamic jurisprudence literature. From the qualitative comparative analysis, the conceptual analysis suggests that a permissioned blockchain architecture may offer supplementary advantages over conventional centralized architectures in terms of integrity, credibility, traceability, tamper-proofing, transparency, and accountability, with the efficiency of processing being similar and human biases being mitigated but not entirely eradicated. Further, it appears that the implementation of blockchain technology conforms to the principles of Sharia concerning the preservation of life, property, justice, and public order with proper considerations for privacy and constant human supervision. This research thus shows that there is potential for blockchain technology to effectively improve digital traffic justice in the UAE, provided that its implementation is supported by appropriate regulatory guidance concerning evidentiary verification, liability, data governance, and institutional oversight and through piloting prior to full-scale implementation.