Abu Dhabi to adopt system of uniform speed limits

Abu Dhabi: An initiative to put in place a comprehensive system of speed limits on the roads of Abu Dhabi will be completed by 2011, a senior road and traffic expert said Sunday.

The initiative is one of the strategies being adopted by the Abu Dhabi Police to reduce the number of accidents and enhance road safety, Dr Atef M. Garib, road and traffic expert at the Abu Dhabi Police Traffic and Patrols Department, said.

"Eight out of every hundred traffic casualties results in death in the UAE, which is a huge cost to the government and the community. We therefore need an effective road system to improve road safety, and this comprehensive system of speed limits is one of the most important steps," Garib said on the sidelines of the Traffic Accidents in Abu Dhabi: Causes and Solutions workshop.

The workshop was attended by officials from the road and traffic departments, insurance companies and the police department.

Data presented at the workshop showed a traffic accident occured in Abu Dhabi every four and a half minutes in 2009, with 82.1 per cent of them due to human factors like reckless driving, speeding and using electronic devices while driving.

Garib explained that under the new system, all roads of a certain type would have the same speed limit across the emirate.

"The road user will therefore not be confused about what speed he can drive at, because the speed limit for each type of road structure will be consistent across the entire Abu Dhabi road network. The road ‘will speak to him'," Garib said.

Currently, this speed limit system is being developed and implemented, and corresponding speed limit signs on various roads are being changed across the emirate.

Data management

He also added that the current traffic infrastructure and data management system, which integrates all items of data pertaining to a traffic accident, would be expanded to include all parts of the emirate.

"Using this system, traffic experts can combine all the different pieces of data from a crash — type of injuries, volume of traffic on the road, road structure, driver characteristics, etc. — to better analyse and understand the issues that hinder and contribute to road safety," Garib said.

The traffic expert added that a plan to improve the system of black points given for traffic violations was also in progress, so that a driver could be required to attend an educational session once he acquired a certain number of black points.

Road fatigue is one of the growing causes for traffic accidents in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, Dr Atef M Garib told Gulf News.

"With the change in the socio-economic structure, many people are now commuting to Abu Dhabi for work. People therefore experience a lot of road stress, and are not habituated to making road stops when they are tired, thus leading to numerous road accidents," he said.

He added that road fatigue therefore needed urgent analysis and consideration, and people needed to be educated about how to avoid fatigue while driving.

Abu Dhabi traffic statistics for 2009

What do you think is the leading cause of road accidents? What more do you think can be done to increase road safety?