Dubai: The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai and the General Headquarters of Dubai Police have endorsed the general framework of the Five-Year executive plan of the traffic safety strategy.
The strategy comprises four key drivers: monitoring and traffic control, roads engineering and vehicles, traffic awareness, and systems improvement and management.
The two parties have also endorsed the strategic performance indicators and the targets of the traffic safety strategy of the Dubai Emirate 2017-2021.
It follows a recent meeting at the new Enterprise Command and Control Centre (EC3) between Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, and Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police.
Al Tayer said: “The general outlines of the traffic safety strategy are part of the deliverables associated with the implementation of the directives of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, to form the traffic safety team. The team was tasked to chalk out the outlines of the plan, performance indicators, targets, and procedures and frequency of benchmarking. The overall objective of the plan is to step up the traffic safety level in Dubai, and reduce the rates of mortalities, injuries and accidents.”
He added that the strategy covers three key components: the road, driver and vehicle.
As for the road, all conditions and specifications of safety have to be addressed and integrated into the design and construction of road projects at the highest global standards. As for the driver, a consolidated module has been developed for training drivers and licensing vehicles to the highest standards and practices of the industry worldwide. For this purpose examiners have been provided training at prominent global specialist firms. RTA is running continuous awareness campaigns in collaboration with its strategic partners namely the Ministry of Interior and the General HQ of Dubai Police to raise the traffic awareness culture of road users. The third component, the vehicle, is subject to comprehensive licensing procedures to verify its soundness.
Major General Al Marri highlighted the importance of setting up procedures and programmes, and launching initiatives for traffic safety to realise the strategic objective of Dubai to be a safe, stable and developed city where life and property are protected.
Major General Dr Abdul Quddus Al Obaidly, Assistant Commander-in-Chief for Quality and Excellence at Dubai Police, said: “Both parties have agreed on launching joint programmes compatible with the UAE General Index, with mortality rate amounting to one case per 100,000 of population, especially as Dubai is a key player in this indicator.”
He added: “By the end of each year, the results have to be submitted to the Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, and the Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, for endorsing the final deliverables. The findings will then be forwarded to the General Secretariat of the Dubai Executive Council on an annual basis.”
