Dubai
Thanks to the proactive determination of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai, we have great infrastructure and roads matching and even exceeding international standards. The traffic control devices make travelling safe and less complicated.
Commuting across the length of the emirate and spending nearly three to four hours on the roads daily, I do get to see many deviations from the set traffic rules and regulations by many road users. Most of these violations are deliberate, in spite of numerous controls put in place right from the police patrols, radars, awareness and appreciation campaigns, strict penal actions and licensing rules.
I would like to highlight one such unsafe act, which I witnessed while travelling on Shaikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road in the stretch adjoining Jebel Ali Industrial Area a few days ago. A recovery truck was transporting a refrigeration van or truck, which had clearly been involved in an accident at some other place. The load was leaning towards the fast lane and, coupled with the dangling parts of the vehicle’s body, which were nearly falling off, could easily be foreseen as a hazard to the other road users. Yet, the truck driver took the risk of going ahead, which reflects his poor judgment.
The driver of the recovery vehicle and the owner of the damaged vehicle should definitely be more responsible towards other road users before arriving at a contract for such transportation.
The RTA have clear rules in place for extended and oversized loads with specific controls mentioned, including the permissible road usage timings for such transport vehicles, to avoid inconvenience and risk to the general public. People should follow the rules to be more careful and to avoid accidents.
The reader is based in Dubai.
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