Metal bars for rock carriers

The Ras Al Khaimah Traffic and Licensing Department will soon issue a decision ordering heavy vehicles carrying rocks from Ras Al Khaimah to other emirates to instal metal bars for public safety.

A senior police officer said that the decision, which is in the final stage of approval and will be issued in the next few days, will also include heavy penalties for drivers who do not comply.

He stressed that negotiations are underway between the Department, the cement factories and rock quarries in order to agree upon how this decision can be best implemented.

Currently, the safety measures present in such vehicles are inadequate and endanger lives and property as they ply the inner roads of the emirate, he said.

He explained that each of these vehicles is loaded with tonnes of precariously piled rocks. In most vehicles, the only safety equipment is wooden bars fitted to some parts.

In the past six months, there have been three incidents of big rocks falling from these vehicles. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported.

In each of these incidents it took the authorities hours to remove the rocks from the streets. These heavy vehicles make so many trips that at least every half an hour one of them crosses the heart of the city to reach the main Sharjah highway.

He added that residents have been expressing fear and that the Department has been considering the issue. The time has come to organise the movement of these vehicles.

The new decision will force the owners to install metal bars so that even if the rocks move about in the vehicles, they will not fall out.

He added that the measures taken by the Department last year to force heavy vehicles carrying cement to be completely covered with a large piece of cloth had dramatically reduced complaints of the dust from these vehicles which cause a haze on the windscreens of passing cars.

The Department will act firmly to make the streets as safe as possible. Latest studies have shown that metal bars are the best solution to the problem. He pointed out that women drivers in particular have voiced their fears of passing such vehicles carrying rocks.