Dubai: A truck that overturned on Ras Al Khor Road caused serious traffic delays on several roads, including Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, on Sunday morning.
Colonel Saif Muhair Al Mazroui, Director of Dubai Traffic Police, said that around 9.30am a truck swerved and then overturned on Al Khail Road in the Abu Dhabi direction.
He said that there were no injuries.
Two vehicles were moderately damaged due to the truck’s load falling on them. The fallen truck’s load also partially blocked some of the lanes, he said.
The truck was carrying folded piles of cardboard boxes.
Al Mazroui added that traffic patrols rushed to the scene as soon as the operation room received the report, and managed the traffic flow and removed the cardboard boxes that fell off the truck.
The patrol teams were also lifting the truck using cranes, which took hours, after which the road was completely opened for traffic flow.
Motorists expressed their frustration with the traffic delays, which caused them to be late to work and other appointments.
“What usually is a 15-minute drive to work turned out to be a 90-minute drive! I should have brought a book with me, I would have finished reading two chapters,” Jena, a Filipina motorist, said. “Add to that the fact that I felt as if all the trucks of Dubai had descended on Al Khail Road this morning.”
She said she was tempted to drive on the hard shoulder like a number of queue jumpers did in front of her, “but I kept my cool and decided to exercise civility. With that decision, I arrived late at office.”
Jena said she saw police and other workers removing the cardboard boxes that were blocking the road.
Zainab Sabry, who was on her way from Sharjah to Dubai, said that she was stuck in Ras Al Khor for almost an hour, when she usually takes 15 minutes to cross that stretch.
She was in Ras Al Khor at around 12pm, and there was still a lot of traffic.
“It was horrible, being in the car at that time of day. I was melting from the heat, even with the AC on. I was late to work, and I have a headache and can barely focus,” Zainab said.
However, she said, she did not see the overturned truck or the accident.
