50 accident-prone areas identified in Dubai

Maitha bin Udai, CEO of Traffic and Roads Agency, said: “The traffic safety strategy mapped out by experts of the agency is partly based on technical reports and digital statistics of monitoring and following up spots witnessing frequent traffic accidents in Dubai and flagging them as Black Spots that require appropriate remedial measures,” adding that “the agency attaches utmost concern to the issue of traffic safety.”

“A standout city of the calibre of Dubai should have in place top-class safety and traffic engineering standards. Therefore our traffic safety teams and specialists work round-the-clock to continuously develop and improve roads safety. The RTA has not rested on designing and constructing modern road networks but has also spearheaded many initiatives and road monitoring programs to ensure the highest levels of road safety, and is constantly working on implementing preventive traffic engineering measures on the road network to prevent the targeted spots from turning into Black Spots,” continued Udai. “Last year, we spotted 50 traffic accident Black Spots in Dubai, of which 22 were redressed and work is up and running in 23 locations, while the remaining 5 locations are currently being re-designed.” She stated that the measures taken by the agency had contributed significantly in improving the traffic safety at the locations.

Udai pointed out that the agency had been adopting the Black Spots system since 2009, where the improved traffic safety measures carried out in 110 sites over the past years contributed to reducing mortality rates of run-over accidents by 36 per cent, from 78 deaths in 2009 to 50 in 2012.

During the same period, speed-related traffic deaths plummeted to 86 per cent, and red signal jumping mortality rates retreated by 36 per cent. The improved traffic safety measures also contributed to reducing fatalities due to collision against fixed objects by 35 per cent, from 34 deaths to 22.”

“The agency takes many technical measures and precautions to avoid increasing the number of black spots in the forthcoming years, by auditing the traffic safety procedures during the design and implementation phases and after opening of the new road projects. The agency is also considering the possibility of providing safe pedestrian/cyclist crossings, and is taking appropriate actions to prevent jaywalking,” she said.

“The agency is also working on improving the performance of traffic signals by modifying the signal timing, installing red-signal jumping surveillance cameras, providing traffic controlling devices and coordinating with the Dubai Police to install speed control systems (radars),” added Udai.