Faded road markings give RAK drivers a hard time

Ras Al Khaimah - The department of public works and services has launched a thorough plan to repaint and remark all the roads of the emirate.

Vanishing road markings have become quite an issue for drivers and residents in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) who have repetitively complained about it to the authorities concerned.
Talking about his daily struggle of figuring out the faded road markings, Egyptian driver Mohammed Abbas said: "The situation is worse on internal roads where the road markings have completely disappeared, and that at times leads to driving haphazardly and causing traffic snarls and accidents almost daily."
Syrian driver Ibrahim Sulaiman said drivers could not help driving haphazardly owing to the faint road markings. "You can see vehicles being driven disorderly in opposite directions every day in residential districts."
Akram Akbar, a Pakistani driver, said the speed bumps and lack of lampposts aggravate the situation. "It is so difficult to drive in the dark on roads with no markings or lanes at all."
Roads in Al Maamura, Al Dheit, and Al Nakheel areas, and many other neighbouring areas are the worse affected as there are no road markings at all, said Sudanese driver Ashraf Saleh. "These areas almost have no road markings whereas irregular speed bumps are everywhere."
Rashid Saeed, a resident of the busy Al Nakheel area, said that the vanishing road marks is one of the main reasons behind the non-compliance of drivers with the traffic regulations. "Some parts of the road are not well-lit at all posing a grave risk to the life of road users," he said, urging the bodies concerned to do an urgent, thorough maintenance to these roads, especially the internal two-way roads.
Ali Al Tunaiji, a resident of Al Nakheel area, said it is also important to assign the job to a specialised company so that quality paints are used in the road marks, and accordingly they will not vanish easily or disappear in a short time as is the case these days.
"Speed bumps should be built by only the bodies concerned as per set standards while the malfunctioning lamp posts must be fixed and replaced with new and good quality ones."
The department of public works and services in RAK, in response to the recurring complaints by drivers and residents, has launched a thorough plan to repaint and remark all the roads of the emirate, particularly the internal roads.
Ahmad Al Hammadi, director of the department, said they are re-marking all roads of the emirate on a regular basis, particularly the internal roads and in residential districts.
"A specialised company has been recently contracted to mark and paint all the roads of the emirate using quality paint and materials as per the latest international standards."
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com