UAE | Traffic and Transport
Police notch up success in traffic drive
Police's traffic department's campaigns have added to their success during the past few weeks, contributing to a reduction in accidents caused by speeding and reckless driving, a senior police official said.
- Staff Report
- Published: 23:19 January 3, 2009
- The speeding campaign is aimed at spreading awareness amongst motorists on the dangers of over-speeding and the subsequent loss of lives. This picture is for illustrative purpose only.
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
Dubai: Police's traffic department's campaigns have added to their success during the past few weeks, contributing to a reduction in accidents caused by speeding and reckless driving, a senior police official said.
Major Omar Mousa Ashour, acting director of the Activities Department at the Deira traffic department and supervisor of the speeding campaign, said offences caught on radar had also declined during the past period. He said radars caught 7,354 speeding offences on the first day of the campaign on December 21.
On the second day, speeding offences caught by radars declined to 4,296 offences and 3,157 offences on the third day and 2,700 offences on the fourth day.
The week long campaign focused on speeding and ended on December 29. However, Major Ashour said the police would continue to crackdown on speeding motorists.
"The declining number of speeding offences shows the activeness of the campaign during the past period and that many motorists are becoming aware of the dangers of excessive speeding," Major Ashour said.
He said the speeding campaign aimed at spreading awareness among motorists on the dangers of speeding and the losses in lives and properties due to this offence. The campaign also aimed at encouraging motorists and the public to abide by traffic rules, deter offenders and implement strict punishment against them.
The department also showcased the damaged cars that were involved in serious road accidents as a result of speeding at Gold Souq, University City Road and the Global Village.
Trucks carrying the damaged cars also travelled on the city's various roads. He said this idea has also contributed in reducing offences, as motorists got to see what speeding could do to a car and that the consequences were even more graver for the driver and passengers.
The department also organised a series of awareness lectures at schools and universities on traffic safety.
Dubai Police's traffic department recently announced that there would be an additional 1,000 radars on Dubai roads by the end of this year, which is double the number of radars that were installed on the roads by end of 2008.
Highways
Most of the radars will be installed on highways, where many fatal accidents occur due to the wideness of the roads and the higher speed limits.
Last year, the traffic department installed the new radars known as "beams" on different roads with 30 radars placed on Shaikh Zayed Road, 22 on the Dubai-Al Ain Road, 17 on the Dubai-Hatta Road, 10 on the Emirates Road, 6 on Al Khail Road and 5 radars on the Business Bay Bridge.
Major Ashour said the goal behind installing more radars on the roads was to protect the lives of road users and not to make more money, as people were apt to think.
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