The practice of installing new Radars on roads in the UAE is increasing day by day but their positive impact in controlling road accidents and causalities is yet to be observed. You will find different types of radars on roads of all major cities in the UAE monitoring traffic violations. But the road and safety experts in the UAE believe that Radars, alone are not enough to solve traffic issues in the country and most of the experts called for increased visibility of Police on roads.
Recommendations made by Safety Experts
The Chief Operating Officer of Emirates Driving Institute, Robert Hodges was of the view that rising traffic problems in the UAE demand more police visibility than the cameras and radars. He said more people must be stopped on road and penalized on the spot by traffic Police for committing traffic violations. He said with recorded data of Cameras and Radars, the offenders are fined after three to four weeks of offence and that hardly plays a part in making the motorists responsible for their acts. He also said that motorists must drive with full focus as driving with distractions like using mobile phone, talking to other passengers in car or doing any other activity that takes their focus away from driving can be fatal for other commuters on the road. Mr. Hodges wanted better patrolling and visibility of Police and initiation of more awareness campaigns to educate the motorists about road safety principles.
Importance of Education and Training for Motorists
Dino Kalivas, Chairman of Driver Education and Training at the International Road Federation said people in the UAE don’t take enough time and trouble to reach their destination safely and that is what causes serious road accidents in the UAE.
The number of road deaths recorded in Dubai in first half of 2016 has seen a 45% increase from 2015 and that is due to bad driving habits of the UAE motorists.
Mr. Dino Kalivas believed that traffic offences like lane swerving, over-speeding, jumping red signal, tailgating and parking in prohibited areas take time to get abolished completely and the training of drivers is very important to teach them how to drive safely and not commit all these violations.
Strict Penalties for Reckless Drivers
Phil Clark, another expert who is a Principal Road Safety Consultant at Transport Research Laboratory suggested that motorists should take driving as a privilege and not something that is their right. He said the irresponsible attitude of drivers when they remain distracted while driving and use driving time for social networking and other activities on their phone should be strictly treated with.
Zero-Tolerance for Drivers with Emotional Instability
The Executive Vice President of International Road Federations stated that people with lack of emotional stability must never be allowed to drive. He said that the Police and Traffic authorities must invest every possible effort to curb reckless drivers from roads in order to make roads in the UAE safe.
Why More Visibility of Traffic Police is important in the UAE
According to Road and Safety Experts, the most effective solution for all traffic problems in the UAE is to increase the number of traffic Police officials on roads to issue tickets for offences on the spot. The experts believe that Police are doing a good job by implementing radars and monitoring systems but situation will only improve if the offenders are caught and penalized at the right time. The delay in issuing fines after taking inputs from monitoring systems loses intensity of the process and hence the fear of facing penalties fades among motorists.
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