Truck drivers move 2km a day

Al Sila: The truck drivers lining up for more than 25 kilometres to the Saudi Arabian border move around two kilometres per day, slowly inching their way forward to the border post of Al Ghuwaifat.

Saudi officials have clamped down on security checks there, insisting on fully verifying each driver's identity though fingerprint scans. The net result for drivers is that a three-day round-trip between Dubai and Doha has turned in a bureaucratic nightmare lasting seven days - or longer.

The long stretch of straight road, 360 kilometres east of Abu Dhabi, is one of the UAE's deadliest, with serious or fatal accidents occuring almost daily.

Trucks largely adhere to the prohibition on overtaking and the 80km/h speed limit on the highway where cars and 4X4s zoom by in the outside lane.

"The trucks make this road the most dangerous in the UAE," observes Ibrahim, a manager at the ADNOC plant in nearly Al Ruwais. "Many of friends and my family have been killed on that road. It is always the trucks fault."

The UAE national recounts the story of one family who were killed on the highway, and then as family members were told and came to look at the accicent site, several more were involved in a second deadly crash.

"At least now, if the trucks are moving slowly, less people will be killed," he says.

For Ibrahim, the strict border controls imposed by Saudi Arabia are good news.

"This region is secure and all governments need to act to keep it that way," he says. "If the Saudis want to impose strict border controls, then that is good for everyone."

For him, the benefit is simple: "I'd rather have security than trade."