Muscat: Speeding was a major cause of a spate of road accidents, some involving UAE visitors, during the last Eid Al Adha holidays, according to Brigadier Mohammad Bin Awadh Al Rawas, Director General of Traffic with Royal Oman Police (ROP).
“During the holy month of Ramadan and Eid holidays we had a heavy rush of visitors from outside and despite carrying out a campaign to educate these visitors about Oman’s roads and speed limits fatal accidents were recorded,” he said on the sidelines of a media briefing on Monday.
He revealed that the police had distributed traffic awareness pamphlets and cautioned visitors to drive carefully, especially on winding mountain roads in the south. “We had set police personnel from Muscat to Dhofar during the Salalah Festival to cater to the heavy rush of visitors down south,” he said.
“The problem,” he added, “was that these visitors are in the habit of speeding in their own country and continue driving at a high speed causing fatal accidents when they visit Oman for holidays.”
“There’s nothing wrong with our roads,” he said in reply to a question but added that roads in each region were different and drivers must adhere to road conditions in a particular place.
“There are different speed limits in different regions due to roads available,” he said.
The traffic police chief also revealed that the police issued 6,000 traffic fines tickets during the last Salalah Festival.
“The patrolling is adequate. We carry out enough awareness campaign also but motorists need to change their attitude and habits to avoid accidents,” he said. He said that most accidents are caused because drivers speed, use mobile phone while driving, do not maintain their vehicles and avoid taking enough rest during a long drive.
He appealed to motorists to be cautious and follow traffic rules to avoid accidents that took 1,131 lives last year in Oman.
