Tweets can help ease Dubai's traffic jams

Stuck in traffic for hours? You are not alone. Many social media users are using the time doing nothing on the road to help others: their good deed for the day.

An average of 10, both minor and major, road accidents are ‘tweeted’ every day in Dubai. Road commuters and drivers have been actively using social media websites like Twitter and Facebook as a tool to alert other road users about traffic jams and related accidents across the UAE. Many commuters say that there has been a sharp increase in traffic in recent weeks as well.

“Ever since schools have reopened, the traffic situation especially on the roads from Sharjah to Dubai have been very bad. It takes my husband two hours to drive from Sharjah to his office in Al Qouz. He has had to leave at 5.54am to reach his office before 9am,” said Indian national and housewife Divya Narwani.

According to Twitter handle @TrafficDXB, an account that alerts people about traffic accidents in the UAE, an average of 10 accidents are reported every day and it gets increasingly worse during the weekends. Very often the accounts have been reporting accidents even before @DubaiPoliceHQ (Dubai Police official Twitter account) tweets about it.

Javed Khamisani, owner of the account and CEO of Allianz Hosting Dubai, started the account @TrafficDXB as a social service. “I used to live in South Africa and this used to be a very informative service for road commuters. There are other accounts doing the same thing, but we’ve been able to get a lot of response in recent times,” said Khamisani. The account has a following of about 3,300 users, who tweet at the account about traffic accidents, which are later re-tweeted by Khamisani.

He said: “I moved here about two years ago and there has been a tremendous increase in traffic jams in the last two years. The bottlenecks from Sharjah to Dubai being jam-packed are very common now, especially in the mornings and evenings. But it has increased in recent times, and it could be because of the rent hikes in Dubai.” The service is beneficial since people can take alternative routes. “We use a mapping software to gauge the traffic situation and very often we have people tweeting to us about accidents that lead to jams. Certain jams are unavoidable, like the Sharjah-Dubai one and the JBR one, due the the tram construction,” said Khamisani.

However, several commuters tell Khaleej Times that even alternative routes are crowded.

“The last weekend I was stuck in traffic for about an hour near Airport road due to an accident,” said Rahul Sudheer, an architect in Dubai. “The Palm Jumeirah traffic fiasco on Thursday was also much talked about on Twitter. A lot of people avoided these roads because of the info on Twitter,” said Sudheer.

Several residents opined that the only way to avoid traffic is to have a good on-road etiquette.

“The account reports accidents very often in the newer areas of Dubai. The DIP roundabout, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Umm Suqeim, Al Sufouh (due to the tram construction), Sports City, and roads in and out of Al Khail Road have constant jams. There are several new schools that have come up in the periphery of Al Khail Road causing bad jams in and out of the highways,” said Khamisani.

Recent statistics revealed by the Dubai Police show that death tolls in road accidents in the first seven months of this year was 106, with 16 deaths being recorded in July alone and 90 accidents in the first six months. “The Road Transport Authority must encourage car pooling, especially for parents who drive their kids to schools,” he said.

Khamisani recommends that schools must have a traffic warden near the school gates. “Schools in many places like the Lakes and Springs, parents are parking their cars in the second and first lane to drop their children, evidently causing jams in the area. Schools have to take responsibility as well by introducing a traffic warden who can direct traffic away from the school areas. Children who don’t use school transport can carpool as well, which would reduce cars on the roads,” said Khamisani.

In an earlier interview with Khaleej Times, Amir Abdullah, social media manager of Carpool Arabia, a service that offers carpooling solutions said: “People generally believe that it is due to the road infrastructure that accidents take place. Though we firmly believe it relies on the timing of schools and offices. Perhaps, they could implement different schedules for both. It would make a difference.”

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com