Abu Dhabi: Police officials are studying a plan to provide early warnings during foggy weather to motorists about any traffic incidents ahead of them, the Abu Dhabi Police announced on Saturday.
The plan will involve the installation of lights along external roads, which will light up if the motorist is approaching a traffic accident. The lights will alert the driver at least three kilometres before the site of the incident, the statement said.
“While the plan would not prevent accidents in low visibility situations, it would allow motorists to slow down before reaching the scene of a traffic incident. This could therefore prevent pile-ups from occurring,” said Lieutenant Colonel Nasser Al Maskari, director of operations at the Abu Dhabi Police Central Operations Directorate.
Vehicle pile-ups are a common occurrence across UAE highways during the winter, when foggy conditions greatly reduce visibility in the night and early morning. In 2008, more than 60 cars were involved in a massive pile-up on the Abu Dhabi–Dubai highway that killed five people and left more than 350 others injured. In 2011, a 127-vehicle pile-up occurred on the same highway, leading to the death of one person. And, earlier this year, more than 57 vehicles were involved in a collision near Al Ain’s Abu Samra area.
Speeding, not maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles, and lack of awareness about road conditions were blamed for the severity of the damage in these pile-ups.
The plan that is under consideration by Abu Dhabi Police will see lamps placed three kilometres apart on the sides of the road. Once the police control room is notified about an incident, operators will work to identify the geographical coordinates of the crash site. Within 20 seconds, they will turn on the lamps, which will emit a red light designed to cut through the fog. In this way, motorists would be alerted about traffic accidents at least three kilometres before they reach the location, the police statement said.
