New drivers risk lives by trying to earn as much as possible
Dubai traffic conference also told of the perils of being glued to your phone while driving
Workers who have moved to the UAE for driving jobs and who know little of regional driving habits are taking deadly risks on the road to maximise their earnings, road safety experts heard yesterday.
Safety on the country’s roads is being compromised by commercial drivers who have little experience of high-speed motorways but are driving faster and for longer periods to meet deadlines and quotas.
The variety of different nationalities on the country’s roads, who are used to different driving standards and attitudes, also poses a danger.
“Many of these drivers have no prior experience of driving on such high-speed roads with the traffic rules we have here,” Shahid Tanvir, a PhD student from Heriot-Watt University Dubai, told this year’s Gulf Traffic summit.
“Migrant workers who work as commercial drivers take risks on the road because they are trying to get the most out of their time. They want to make as much money as possible, which means they are definitely going to drive as fast as they can.”
Mr Tanvir told the conference, which was organised by Road Safety UAE and held at Dubai World Trade Centre, that the GCC had unique problems in enforcing road safety.
“This region is 70 per cent urbanised and there is a dominant car culture here, with people spending huge amounts of money to drive certain brands or buy certain number plates,” he said.
“The quality of roads improves all the time, as does the level of technology to make driving more safe. The weakest link, though, remains the people driving the cars.”
The conference also heard that the number of motorists who broke the law by using their smartphones while driving was a major concern.
Distracted drivers checking messages and composing texts are putting their lives and those of others at risk. In the first three months of this year, more than 12,000 motorists in Dubai were issued fines for using their phones while driving.
Ognjen Jovanovic, a manager for Mercedes-Benz and Daimler in the Mena region, said that drivers needed to drop the dangerous habit.
“You can’t text and drive,” Mr Jovanovic said. “If you are on WhatsApp, or checking text messages, your concentration levels will be reduced. You might think you are still aware, but it could affect your reaction times if something happens.”
This year, Col Juma bin Suwaidan, deputy director of Dubai traffic police, said an average of 136 fines were being issued each day for the offence.
But repeated safety warnings and the threat of hefty fines and black points on their licences were having too little effect on many motorists.
Police in the emirate have previously warned that making calls and texts is more of a danger than drunk driving.
A spokeswoman for traffic navigation and mapping company TomTom also urged motorists to leave their phones alone and focus on the road ahead of them.
“You need to avoid looking at your phone when you are driving and put it in the holder,” Ase Elvebakk, a senior development manager for the company, told the conference.
“In-car navigation systems have more and more features that enables the driver to be aware of the road ahead of them instead of looking at things they shouldn’t be.”
Seventy-six people were killed in road accidents in Dubai during the first half of this year. Police said the fatal accidents in Dubai were mainly caused by sudden swerving, failing to leave a safe distance from the car in front and misjudgment by drivers.
Road fatalities have decreased slightly from the first half of the year, with 77 deaths in the same period last year.
Many of these drivers have no prior experience of driving on such highspeed roads with the traffic rules we have here SHAHID TANVIR Heriot-Watt University