Dubai to produce driving guide

Dubai: A traffic and road usage guide is being prepared by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority in an effort to help motorists adopt a unified driving culture, said a senior official.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has already launched a campaign taking comments from drivers and learner drivers. A questionnaire is being distributed asking learner drivers what sort of problems they face while learning to drive.

"We are preparing to bring out a guide book on traffic and road systems to help drivers understand and adopt unified driving guidelines in Dubai," said Hashim Al Hashemi, Director of the Traffic and Licensing Department at the RTA.

The survey also covers the study of the traffic situation on roads which new drivers learn on.

"The aim is to help reduce traffic congestion resulting from different driving cultures and behaviour by drivers from different nationalities," he said.

He said traffic was a fast growing problem on the city's roads as there were more than 633,000 vehicles registered in Dubai. People of 163 nationalities have obtained driving licences in the city.

Challenging

"Having drivers coming from different countries with different driving cultures and habits makes it a challenging job to make them follow a unified book," said Hashemi.

But he said it had to be applied to reduce traffic congestion resulting from diverse driving habits.

The guide, which will be prepared based on analyses of the traffic and a study of driving behaviour, will be considered a reference book. It will contain information in Arabic and English about driving techniques, training facilities and road networks in the city.

Hashemi said the RTA was also studying plans to review standards of driving examiners in a bid to improve their skills.

Adam Kechil, Director of Training and Head of Road Safety at the Belhasa Driving Centre, told Gulf News driving schools were cooperating with the RTA to upgrade the standard of training.

"Most of the driving instructors here don't know how to teach. They themselves need to go on training course before they are allowed to teach," he said.