Dubai: Motorists can now report minor accidents at ten Enoc petrol stations all around Dubai, officials said on Monday.
Al Rashidiya police station has trained 58 Enoc employees to receive reports of minor traffic accidents on Dubai Police smartphone app. People can go to petrol stations instead of police stations to avoid queues.
Major-General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in Chief of Dubai Police for Criminal Investigation Affairs, inaugurated the new service at a press conference saying it will help reduce time.
“It will reduce the number of people at police stations to report minor accidents and also will reduce traffic jams on the roads,” Maj-Gen Al Mansouri said.
Brigadier Saeed Hamad Bin Sulaiman, director of Al Rashidiya police station, said the service was initially introduced after they started with three fuel stations in August last year, and the police decided to expand it to ten stations this year.
“After encouraging results from the three petrol stations, commander in chief of Dubai Police ordered to expand the service to other seven petrol stations all around Dubai. We conducted a study to identify which roads have many minor accidents in Dubai,” Brigadier Bin Sulaiman said.
The three stations registered 2,360 minor accidents reports since it was launched and the top three roads in the emirate that witnessed minor accidents were Mohammed Bin Zayed road, Al Khail road and Shaikh Zayed Road.
“Initially we trained 18 Enoc employees and now we have trained 40 others at the new stations. We are looking for more pump stations to participate in the initiative as some drivers might don’t know how to report minor accidents using police app,” he added.
The 24/7 service was available at three Enoc stations: Al Wasn station on Tripoli Street, Al Yamamah station on Mohammad Bin Zayed Road (Abu Dhabi bound) and the Bypass Road station, also on Mohammad Bin Zayed Road (Sharjah bound).
The other seven stations will be at: Al Rasheed street near Abu Hail clinic, Al Mezher area near the market, Arabian ranches exit 311, Al Khail road in Al Quoz 2 on exit 44, Al Khail road in Al barsha area near Barsha police station, Oud Metha road near Al Wasl Club, inside Jebel Ali free zone roundabout 13.
“We choose those stations because most minor accidents occur on roads near them, according to our traffic statistic.”
“It will raise more awareness of the app, which people can use themselves. The Enoc employees will also try to teach people how to use the app’s feature. The initiative will also help reduce the number of visitors to the police station,” he said.
Reporting a minor accident, where both parties are in agreement on who is at fault, takes three minutes, “but if they come to the police station it may take more than an hour to report their case if the station is busy”, he said.
While some people are still reluctant to use the app, Brig Bin Sulaiman explained: “Some might have a smartphone but do not have internet access, and some do not have the app. This is where the service at Enoc stations would help,” he said.
When you report an accident through the app, you get the accident report through e-mail or SMS a few minutes after successfully filing out the forms and attaching the required pictures.
