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Abu Dhabi: Police may consider closing the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway to traffic in case of heavy fog as a precautionary measure to curb accidents, senior officials have said.
This comes close on the heels of the horrific traffic accident near the Ghantoot bridge on Tuesday in which three people were killed and more than 300 injured in the 250-vehicle pile-up.
The accident shocked the nation due to its sheer magnitude and ferocity.
"If there is heavy fog, then for safety reasons we may close the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway. Motorists will be informed and will be asked to take alternative routes to their destination," said Colonel Hamad Adeel Al Shamsi, Director of the Traffic and Patrols section at Abu Dhabi Police. But police did not elaborate how they would inform motorists.
The accident that occurred on March 11 on the highway was the worst ever recorded in the country.
There were three major pile-ups of cars apart from few accidents involving one or two vehicles.
Do you think this is the best course of action? Does it fail to resolve the root problem of accidents in bad weather? Is there any other solution?
Your comments
I commute everyday from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, and I am always surprised to see drivers speeding over 160km/h even with very bad weather conditions. Cameras are useless. We all see those crazy drivers breaking like hell before the cameras and speeding even faster right after the cameras. When the law will get more severe against these "road delinquents", with jail sentences when necessary? There is no point in education without repression measures, sorry to say.
Ahmed
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 12:40
It's a shame that so many agree to closing the highway, when quite simply, it is a matter of driver education and common sense. When visibility is decreased - SPEED should be decreased and distance between cars INCREASED. Headlights or fog lights should be used - NOT hazard lights. When you walk into a darkened room, is it not easier to see where things are when you put on the lights? When there are no lights, do we run around the room and hope that we don't fall over something? NO, we use common sense and walk around slowly to avoid any injuries. If we are not comfortable with the road conditions, we can use common sense and pull off to the side of the road, wait for the conditions to improve, and then continue along our journey. Surely our boss will understand the circumstances. Better to arrive late, and safe, than not to arrive at all!
David
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 12:37
I believe that this is the best solution. Nothing is more precious than human life. I am sure office timings can be readjusted to accommodate people being affected due to the closure of roads. I saw the accident the other day, and it actually appeared as a war zone, with burnt cars everywhere. Why not take a precautionary measure right now to avoid repetition of such unfortunate incidents again?
FNM
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 12:04
Closing the road during bad visibility will not be a good solution at all. All this will create is frustration and more reckless driving as people will now have to drive even faster to get to their destination once the roads are open, or to compensate for the added distance when using an alternative route. To prevent accidents like the one near Ghantoot the general average speed of drivers should be better controlled, and seeing as the drivers themselves can't do it, why not adopt the same technology as is in use in the UK where monitoring systems calculate the average speeds for vehicles between fixed points, and punish violators through this. Closing the road is the typical reaction that is taken by authorities who are ill-equipped to deal with the problem, i.e. speeding drivers.
Wills
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 11:18
In my home country of Canada we close highways when icy conditions form as they are tough to spot, it would seem that fog and poor visibility is easily noticed here, however the majority of the drivers do not have the common sense to slow down. If closing the highway will save lives of those who are taking caution against those who do not, I am all for it.
Kevin
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 10:47
Closing this highway during heavy fog? What about the other arteries that lead to Dubai? Couldn't this accident have happened on one of them too? Why don't the authorities understand that all those people who were on that highway were residing outside Dubai due to unaffordable rents? Please do something about escalating rents instead of closing the highways!
Lydia
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 10:31
Wise decision but the ministries should issue some sort of a law allowing people commuting to work up to two hours grace period during foggy days. This means that most people will actually wait until the sun is up and visibility has improved.
Wael
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 10:09
I would suggest that rather than closing the road, two tracks should be opened for vehicles to move slowly if thick fog is expected.
Fahad
Abudhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 10:02
Sure, it sounds like a great idea. Any time there is fog, foreign dignitaries, etc. close the roads and declare a holiday. Efficiency is already at an all-time low, but most people do not care. With so many serious accidents, there MUST be some other way to deal with this. Could we perhaps learn from Germany or Canada? Create more awareness for safe driving, reward more good drivers officially? Often I think priorities are not set right.
Judith
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 09:56
This is not a professional way at all to deal with natural conditions/accidents. There is no way to inform motorists about the closure if it happened, and no proper public transport to be considered as an alternative. What's next? Banning cars to reduce traffic accidents?
Sam
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 09:39
As a solution, my opinion is to change the office timings from 10am onwards for the time being (instead of 8am) if the main highway is closed and using alternative routes is not a remedy. In these parallel routes there will also be fog, which can cause more accidents as people are not familiar with these roads. And the speed limits of these roads should be set strictly on 120km per hour.
Thomas
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 09:28
Closing the road will cause much more frustration to drivers as the alternative routes will be packed with traffic, hence lack of patience will lead to more accidents as the roads will be flooded with traffic. The point of being cautious on the roads just needs to be emphasised to all drivers, experienced and new drivers. The police should think about placing more highway patrols on that road as well. Closing the road, I do not think it is a good idea.
Margaret
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 09:25
Closing the road for a few hours is no solution. The only solution is that people drive carefully. If the patch of fog is on the highway, then it would definitely be on an alternative route too. How does a person take an alternative route? The idea of sending an SMS as to warn about weather conditions would be a good one.
Jamshed
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 09:18
The best solution in my opinion is to make some kind of station at the beginning of the highway where police can ask every car to stop until the fog gets clear. Of course the police will be closing the street at that point and diverting all drivers to that station where they can park their cars and have some coffee or food or even wash their cars.
Amjad
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 09:12
Closing the highway will just make the alternate route more dangerous. What the road users need is real-time information on the road condition and police presence. Radars are only good after the violation has already been made. Signage with real-time information and police presence will do wonders for the safety of everyone.
Arsenio
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 09:12
Yes, when there is heavy fog the highways should be closed. There should be cameras fixed on the highways and also in the city to avoid speeding and accidents. Even if boxes are fixed looking like cameras this will also reduce speeding.
Mohammad
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 09:00
To do this as a temporary measure might be a saver, however, I suggest the authorities investigate the European Traffic Management System (TMS), where overhead electronic boards notify motorists of an accident ahead or to drop your speed limit due to fog or for any other hazardous situation. For this they will also need a police centre next to the highway.
KLR
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 08:50
It is a shame this decision came very late but nevertheless it is a good decision. This practice has been carried out in most of the developed countries.
Muhammad
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 08:40
By diverting the traffic on other routes, the problem of speeding, using hazard lights and rash overtaking will still exist. It may not resolve the core issue of driving discipline.
Elias
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 08:40
To reduce speeding on the highway, how about using similar technology to Salik (number plate recognition) and timing people driving between set points and establish their average speed? If over and above the limit, fine them and put points on the licence. Surely if speeders know they are being monitored they'll slow down.
Darren
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 08:28
During the foggy season, there must be some adjustments in office timings. Motorist should refrain from journeys through the highway until the visibility is back to normal. As a routine traveller between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, I realised that by 7.30-8.00 the visibility is almost ok. The companies/authorities could think of making an adjustment in accordance to the season i.e. let us start at 9am am in lieu of 8am and end the job by 6pm.
Sam
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 08:27
Coming from a country where fog is quite normal during spring and fall it is hard to believe that road closures would solve the problem. It appears more to be matter of awareness and drivers' education to cope with severe weather conditions. I have been driving now for 32 years in various countries all over the world but have rarely seen an attitude amongst drivers as here in the UAE, sorry to say that. In today's issue you clearly give some good advice how to behave best. Unfortunately most of the recommendations seem to be simply ignored for whatever reason. I had a brief discussion with some local citizens of Dubai on the day of the accident, where it turned out that their own cars are equipped with fog lights, front and the rear, but only two were aware of the proper usage.
Uwe
Frankfurt,Germany
Posted: March 17, 2008, 08:25
I think this move was long overdue and as much as I would like to welcome it, it is a pity that a tragedy has to occur prior to an initiative taken to avoid such mishaps. Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway is not the only hazard but as a matter of fact, all roads should be declared closed as soon as the visibility is 50 meters and should re-open once it clears. God forbid a worse accident happens the next time around on some other road. As they say "better safe than sorry" or rather, better late by a few hours than to lose lives!
Lisa
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 08:25
Most motorways across the world have overhead electronic signs making people aware of any dangers or telling them to slow down if there is fog or an accident. Why can't Abu Dhabi police do the same and impose lower mandatory speed limits when the weather is bad? It makes no sense to close the road entirely, how can people get to work?
Emily
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 08:25
The motorists must exercise extreme care while driving in such conditions, especially when people start putting on hazard lights which creates lots of confusion. There should be proper training classes conducted by police to teach people how to be safe on the roads in foggy and misty weather.
Kamran
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 07:57
Where is the alternative route and how good is it? Will fog not affect it? And are these alternative routes developed to handle a huge rise in traffic/vehicles plying on them?
Bilal
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 07:53
The key issue is not whether or not to close the road but to educate people on the precautions to be taken when driving in fog; slow down, maintain increased stopping distance from the car in front, turn on dipped headlights and fog lights (if you have them) and generally take more care. The human element is the cause of the accidents, not the speed or the weather.
Darren
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 07:50
This is the best solution, even better if you are not allowed to take the alternate route. Just STOP all traffic until the weather is clear. In this case you will be 100 per cent risk free of traffic accidents.
Hassan
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 07:36
Very good decision, also it would be good to have alternate routes.
Afsal
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 07:07
At this moment in time this appears to be the only solution. As and when a better option is available, it can always be exercised in the future.
Samir
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 17, 2008, 06:27
As per the picture illustrated above, I see no one has their headlights on in such weather. Why wouldn't there be accidents?
Kaiser
Oakville,Canada
Posted: March 17, 2008, 01:43
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