119 car crashes in thick fog
There were 119 accidents in thick fog on Dubai’s roads between 4am and 9am yesterday. Police had received more than 1,980 calls for assistance by noon.
The weather conditions also caused problems at Dubai International Airport, where heavy fog disrupted operations, resulting in several delays and 13 diversions.
The National Centre of Mete- orology and Seismology issued warnings that visibility was reduced to less than 50 metres on major motorways. Forecasters said there was a chance of fog over the next 48 hours. Lt Col Mohammed Aman, acting director of Dubai Police’s Command and Control Centre, urged motorists to take extra care, follow safety directives and use fog lights in bad weather conditions.
He said drivers should make sure their cars’ windscreens, windows and headlights were clean and to avoid using their hazard-warning lights unless there had been an accident or to warn other drivers of something unusual on the road.
“Leave enough distance between vehicles ahead and do not overtake the front vehicles,” Dubai Police said via its Twitter account.
Abu Dhabi Police and Dubai Police urged drivers not to use hazard lights unless they had come to a stop.
The reason, they said, was because any intended change of direction the driver may wish to take then cannot be signalled to other motorists.
In Sharjah, year- end figures released by police revealed that almost three people were killed on the emirate’s roads each week, on average, this year.
Traffic accidents claimed 130 lives between January 1 and December 27, down from 157 the year before. Emirates Road was named as the deadliest stretch of highway with nine deaths, followed by the Al Dhaid-Sharjah road with seven fatalities. “Compared with last year, which registered 157 fatalities, we have seen a decrease in road deaths this year, which is a good indicator, but still we need to come up with more ways to tackle this issue,” said Lt Col Ahmad Al Naour, deputy director of Sharjah traffic police.
To help cut deaths on dangerous roads, Sharjah police lowered the speed limit on the Al Quta-Nazwa road in the central region from 120 kilometres an hour to 100kph after more than 3,000 speeding offences were recorded over a single weekend this month.
Traffic safety experts said fatalities in traffic accidents were often the result of a lack of awareness by motorists.
“New drivers should have their driving licences renewed every year for the first three years, instead of 10, which gives authorities access to their records, which can show if he was a good driver or not, and act accordingly,” said Alauddin Dawood, deputy chief executive of National Traffic Safety Institute.
“The usual driving exams for new motorists should be updated. We need to have constant awareness campaigns to be able to instil in them correct driving techniques,” he said. Accidents, he said, were caused by drivers in 94 per cent of cases. “The remaining factors are the 2 per cent caused by the vehicle, and 4 per cent by issues on the road.”