Safe roads a priority as schools reopen
dubai — It’s back to school and the usual scenes of frantic traffic around schools during drop-off and pick-up times are back again.
A mix of time pressure, dense vehicle traffic, including private vehicles and school buses, plus increased pedestrian flow makes the traffic around schools very challenging, according to Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE.
The morning rush coupled with road accidents cause bumper-tobumper traffic on major Dubai and Sharjah roads like on Tuesday morning, when multiple accidents were reported across the two cities around 8am.
“But the biggest contributor to congestion are parents trying to drop off their kids on time, often very close to the school starting time, as well as picking up students right after school finishes,” Edelmann told Khaleej Times.
“There is also the lack of motorists’ education regarding school buses, despite the fact that the buses are equipped with stop-signs and warning lights which get deployed when they stop to allow students to embark or disembark. Many motorists ignore those, resulting in dangerous situations,” he underlined.
School buses are not actually to blame for the heavy morning traffic. According to the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), school bus trips account for only 13 per cent of the total volume of trips during the morning rush hours in Dubai.
The school transport sector in Dubai faces multiple challenges, including the “geographical distribution of schools,” said Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors of RTA, in a previous statement.
“Challenges also include the low percentage of school bus users, as reflected in its 11 per cent share of total schools trips, compared to 32 per cent in the United States.
This means that 88 per cent of students in Dubai use private vehicles to get to school, increasing congestion and environmental pollution. This is aggravated by the low occupancy rate of school buses — 53 per cent on average,” added
13%
of the total trips during the morning rush hours in Dubai are school bus trips
The biggest contributor to congestion are parents trying to drop off their kids on time.” Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE
Al Tayer. Another important thing to look at is that students using mass transport means is still limited — at just one per cent of the total number of mass transit users.
This has prompted the RTA to conduct a comprehensive study for managing the demand on transport, including coming up with solutions and guidelines related to the distribution of schools and their integration with the road networks. The RTA is also currently studying flexible working hours and staggering the working hours and school hours.
angel@khaleejtimes.com