Sharjah
I have read the reports that talk about the closure of some parts of the King Faisal Road in Sharjah, and the new diversion that cars have to follow. A few days ago, while I was on my way home, I passed the pedestrian crossing on King Faisal Road. Apart from the construction work that was going on, I noticed that there were neither signals for pedestrians to cross the road nor traffic controllers to replace the signals.
For me, this was a very dangerous sight as I had to risk my life crossing the road while cars were moving on the road at a speed of 40km/hr. I think that this is a serious issue and needs to be sorted out, as it could lead to accidents. There need to be traffic controllers to look after the moving traffic and the pedestrian crossing.
I request the concerned authorities to look into this matter immediately and assign traffic controllers to this area.
— The reader is based in Sharjah.
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According to a list of federal fines issued by the Ministry of Interior, the fine for pedestrians crossing the road when there is no crossing facility is Dh200. In 2014, traffic police reported that around 64,461 people were fined for jaywalking in Dubai. In 2014, the Sharjah Police launched an intensive awareness campaign to alert pedestrians that crossing roads in an undesignated area was punishable under the UAE Traffic Law. However, there were still complaints by pedestrians about the lack of pedestrian crossings in the UAE.
