A very good move, say road safety experts

dubai — Road safety experts in the UAE hailed the move to abolish the 20km speed limit buffer on all roads in the Capital beginning August 12.

“This is a very good move,” Ian Littlefield, training and quality manager at Dubai Driving Centre, told Khaleej Times on Wednesday. “As we know, the severity of road accidents is closely linked to speed. So, we are broadly in favour of (speed limit) reductions,” he said.

Littlefield added that creating a uniform speed limit will not create confusion and give leeway to motorists “who don’t respect the limit as they know they can exceed it by 20kmph”.

Currently, motorists can travel at 20kmph more than the prescribed speed limit (for example, one can drive 140kmph along E11 or Dubai-Abu Dhabi Road, where the stated limit is120kmph). Under the new ruling, motorists will get fines if they are caught speeding one kilometre more than the advertised speed limit.

“A limit should be a limit and not a kilometre more,” he added.

Major-General Mohammed Saif Al Zafeen, chairman of the Federal Traffic Council and Dubai Police assistant commander-inchief for operations, said that speeding caused death of 230 people out of the total 525 road fatalities in the UAE last year.

“By eliminating the 20kmph buffer, drivers can anticipate road hazards well in advance and react quickly,” added Arundhan Alphones, Tristar Group assistant GM for operations of Road Transport and Warehousing.

“There are many vehicles, which run at a speed of 140kmph

or more, which gives drivers a very short time and distance to avoid hitting vehicles in front of them,” Alphones said.

Khalid Javed, training and technical consultant at Emirates Driving Institute, also welcomed the move by the Abu Dhabi Police.

“It is a positive step to eliminate the buffer speed on the roads as high speed is one of the key reasons of the accidents. Majority of the motorists strictly adhere to the speed limit to avoid traffic fines, thus the grace speed encourages the motorists drive at an increased speed without committing a traffic violation. However, an additional speed of 5km can be dangerous since it is not just increasing the likelihood of crash but also increasing the brake distance and the severity of the crash.”

He added: “In most part of the world, motorists adhere to the posted speed limits on the traffic signs and this is the correct approach for improving the safety of every road user.”