Dubai: Well-laid plans by the Roads and Transport Authority will go a long way in protecting 280,000 students in 235 schools returning to school thanks to the safest roads network possible across Dubai, said a senior RTA official on Wednesday.
New awareness events coupled with technical measures will help alleviate traffic congestion in school zones at the beginning of the new academic year 2017-2018.
“RTA’s awareness and technical teams are ready to resume educational programmes and activities in schools, monitor the traffic at light signals. They will adjust the timings of traffic signals to align it with the traffic management requirements in school zones as well as traffic signals in nearby areas,” said Maitha Bin Adai, CEO of RTA Traffic and Roads Agency, in a statement on Wednesday.
“We have coordinated with schools and kindergartens to organise e awareness activities as part of the students’ traffic safety strategy of the agency, which includes workshops and lectures for students, school bus drivers and parents. The RTA is committed to diffusing the traffic culture among community members with the aim of reducing traffic accidents, fatalities and casualties in keeping with its vision of safe and smooth transport for all,” Bin Adai said.
“These events are intended to keep children safe on the road, maintain our six-year-old record of zero-fatalities in school zones, improve the traffic behaviour and instill a culture of traffic safety among youngsters and community members,” she noted.
In addition to a slew of summer RTA events to teach children about roads and safety, Adai said traffic awareness supervisors will intensify their visits to schools and nurseries to hand out student-oriented awareness leaflets and a magazine discussing how to avoid traffic accidents.
On the technical front, she said plans “are in place at the agency’s traffic control centres to adjust the timing of traffic lights at intersections and streets in addition to other procedures to ease traffic, especially in school zones and nearby areas. In the last five years, we have targeted 251 sites within school zones, where we have introduced several road safety measures for users, based on the recommendations of those studies. The engineering procedures implemented in school zones included the installation of more than 849 directional signs, 160 Speed Calming Devices, and 36 pedestrian crossings.”
