Ras Al Khaimah: The RAK Traffic and Licensing Department will shortly conduct a comprehensive study on the increasing number of vehicles catching fire in the tourist area of Awafi.
The department announced that the number of vehicles catching fire in Awafi has sharply increased in the past few weeks due to the vast number of young drivers who visit the area to take part in stunt driving, dune bashing as well as other racing activities.
Colonel Hassan Al Braiki, the Deputy Director of the RAK Traffic and Licensing Department said that this problem should be dealt with instantly and once the study is concluded, a series of recommendations will be forwarded to the higher authorities to impose new laws and regulations to tackle this issue.
He said that the recommendations of the study and the relative laws will enable authorities to protect lives of drivers who come to Awafi to take part in activities. Many vehicles have been totally burnt, but no casualties have been reported as the concerned authorities got involved in time. The emirate's Civil Defence Department has its own branch in Awafi to tackle such cases.
The latest accident took place last weekend when a four wheel drive vehicle caught fire and was totally burnt. The young Emirati driver escaped unharmed as he managed to jump from the burning vehicle.
The civil defence station was called in to douse the fire, but the vehicle was totally destroyed.
The civil defence department has handed over its report to the police who have launched an investigation into the accident.
Sources stressed that other similar accidents have been reported in the past and people have urged authorities to find a solution to this problem.
The number of visitors to the tourist area usually increases during the vacations and weekends.
