Abu Dhabi: The first ever noise-measuring radar has been invented by a member of Abu Dhabi Police in order to apprehend abnormally loud vehicles, especially in residential areas and on the roads, officials said on Tuesday.
Invented by Captain Ahmad Abdullah Al Muhairi, Head of Traffic Safety Section at the Traffic Engineering and Safety Department in the Traffic and Patrols Directorate, the radar seeks to make Abu Dhabi the first city in the world to use this device to preserve the environment by reducing noise pollution.
Al Muhairi said that the new radar will also monitor excessive use of car horns in residential areas and will help Abu Dhabi meet its goals in achieving sustainable road safety.
Brigadier Hussain Ahmad Al Harithi, director of Traffic and Patrols Directorate, expressed his admiration of the innovative idea, adding that such initiatives are in line with the Abu Dhabi Police’s vision for road safety.
Meanwhile, Al Muhairi said that the new radar contains two systems: a sound level meter (SLM) and a highly developed camera to capture images of noise-creating vehicles. The two systems work together to identify offenders.
Whenever the noise level goes beyond the accepted limit, the camera reads the vehicle’s licence plate and registers a violation for its driver.
These radars will be used especially in residential areas, near hospitals, mosques and learning institutions to combat those who make illegal modifications to their vehicles which eventually become a source of nuisance and danger, the police said.
Recently, Abu Dhabi Police also introduced flashless radars which use infrared light to apprehend vehicles that jump red lights.
“The radars can detect speeding motorists on all lanes and in both directions of a road. In addition, they will help us monitor other traffic violations, including not leaving enough space between vehicles and driving on the hard shoulder,” Colonel Khalifa Al Khaili, director of traffic engineering and road safety at the Abu Dhabi Police Traffic and Patrols Directorate,. said during their introduction in 2014.
The devices were placed in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.
Since the beginning of this year, police have reported a 27 per cent decrease in road traffic deaths caused by speeding in the emirate. In fact, 12,980 vehicles were seized during the first 11 months of 2015 for speeding, police announced.
Authorities have attributed the decline in deaths in part to the infrared radars and other monitoring efforts that are being made on the roads.
Other radars such as the "sniper" and mobile radar are constantly changing locations and can normally be seen on inter-city highways.
