No parking for trucks on shoulder

RTA has constructed special resting stops for trucks and trailers on some roads.

Dubai - The regulations aim at ensuring that heavy vehicles are parked in their designated places.

By Staff Reporter

Published: Sun 10 Jan 2016, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Tue 12 Jan 2016, 8:13 AM

Trucks and trailers will not be allowed to park on road shoulders any more as the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has set out new procedures and controls for light and heavy vehicles parkings.
Such parkings undermine safety of road users and distorts the overall appearance of the city. These regulations aim at ensuring that these vehicles are parked in their designated places.
Maitha bin Udai, CEO of RTA's Traffic and Roads Agency said: "Last year, RTA had issued 277 tickets to offenders, locked the wheels of 141 vehicles, and impounded 190 others."
"This practice is quite rampant all over industrial areas of the emirate. Many companies illegally utilise lands and open areas to park their vehicles, whereas they are meant to provide designated parking spaces for those vehicles," bin Udai said.
"It is prohibited to park vehicles within the right-of-way in a way that constitutes a risk to the traffic safety. The agency is entitled to take appropriate procedures for removing offending vehicles and claiming removal expenses from the offender. The assessment of fees by the agency in this regard is considered final and binding."
"The agency is keen on taking an active role with the public and the community in working out possible solutions to ensure the flow of business without impacting the traffic safety. It has therefore issued special permits for companies in order to maintain the public interest of those companies and at the same time streamline the parking of vehicles for loading and offloading. Our objective is to align such processes with the international traffic safety standards adopted by RTA, maintain the safety of road users, and safeguard the gorgeous appearance of the Dubai Emirate," she further added.
It is noteworthy that RTA has so far constructed six resting stops for trucks, and further others are being constructed on the Emirates Road, Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, Dubai-Hatta Road, and Ras Al Khor Road. The purpose of constructing these rest stops is to avoid unauthorised parking on road shoulders as it has the potential of triggering serious traffic accidents.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com