I shall doubtless be accused of picking an easy target, but I make no apologies for doing so. If something is wrong, then I think it should be pointed out in the hope it will be corrected.
I don't believe that saying nothing and silently wishing for change will have any effect at all. This is why I have written, on occasion, about traffic conditions in Dubai and how the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is coping.
I admit I wouldn't like to work in the RTA. It is because in the eyes of the public nothing is ever right. But then perhaps the public - we, I - is too demanding in expecting all things to be resolved more speedily than is logically possible.
Perhaps - but then the continual promises of everything being better some way down the road (that is, in a couple or more years) are like the roads we travel now.
It is not better down the road, for it is more than likely there will be yet another diversion, yet another traffic jam, yet another unsigned area in which drivers get confused and lose direction.
I have often wondered whether employees of RTA have their own secret way of commuting to and from work which enables them to avoid all the hassles experienced by everyone else. If not, and assuming they do not sleep in their office, and then it means they will suffer the same as all other commuters. And if they do, what are they doing to alleviate the congestion, the frustration and even the waste of time we all go through?
Believe me, I do accept that there is an enormous amount of work being undertaken, but did it all have to happen at the same time? Couldn't better planning have been done to take account of present traffic demands to allow ease of flow around the areas under development? Wouldn't it have been possible for some of the work to have been held back and scheduled for later, rather than turn Dubai and its surroundings into a virtual construction site?
Constant changes
With the constant changes and developments of the roads, it becomes ever more difficult to find the right direction, exacerbated by the paucity - or even accuracy - of signposts.
Worse than that is sometimes when a recently completed section of road is dug up and modified because someone (presumably in the RTA) has realised what was done does not work effectively.
Who does the planning for the RTA? Surely there must be better consultants around? Dubai can afford to get the very best in the world - is the RTA being sold short on this?
Now, having shot themselves in the foot over the Salik toll system, it has been decided to introduce yet more toll gates around Dubai. This has happened, despite reassurance only four months ago that there was no intention of doing so in the immediate future. Most people interpreted that as meaning within the next year or so, but apparently not.
Allegedly, the reasoning behind introducing more tolls is that the present number has worked so well that it has encouraged them to increase the number on key roads and highways.
But what evidence is there to prove that this claimed improvement has actually occurred? Certainly it is not from satisfied commuters on Shaikh Zayed Road. Nor from the commuters on parallel roads who have to endure the queues created by the extra traffic trying to avoid the Salik system.
The only conclusion that can be drawn from the introduction of the Salik system, in operation now for just over 10 months, is that it does not do what was expected of it or promised to the general public.
Traffic, if anything, is worse than it ever was; mainly compounded by the fact that with so many roads under construction, or having diversions - some appearing without prior warning overnight - the confusion faced by the public is immense and increasing.
The irritating thing about RTA is that any complaints - even on the taxi service - are dismissed in a cavalier fashion, sometimes implying that "as professionals the RTA knows better than the layman".
But do they? I do not need to know how to play a piano to determine if it is playing out of tune. Having driven on many roads around the world, I have over 40 years of driving experience, more than enough to know when something is wrong.
Suggestions and complaints from the public cannot be dismissed out of hand; sometimes an idea from the public can be good. Even a clock that is stopped is right twice a day.
Your comments
Surely it is time to abolish round-the-clock Salik altogether and allow people to move freely according to time of day and direction of other traffic.
Alexis
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 30, 2008, 04:34
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