Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Abu Dhabi:The efforts of an emirate-wide road safety committee have decreased the rate of traffic fatalities in Abu Dhabi from 22.7 per 100,000 people in 2009 to 11.5 per 100,000 in 2012, a leading transport official said in the capital on Tuesday.
This reduction in fatalities exceeds the committee’s initial target, which aimed to reduce traffic fatalities to 16 per 100,000 people in the emirate by 2021, said Bader Al Qamzi, director of integrated planning at the Department of Transport (DOT).
“The committee, known as the Joint Safety and Traffic Solutions Committee, comprises of municipalities, the police and numerous other road safety and urban planning entities. We now hope to reduce the rate even further to nine fatalities per 100,000 people by 2021. It is a challenging goal, but our success so far shows that it can be achieved,” Al Qamzi said.
He was speaking at the Abu Dhabi Road Safety Forum 2013, which was organised by the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City. The day-long event saw traffic experts, urban planners, government officials and industry professionals discuss methods to protect road users.
According to details revealed at the conference, the number of road fatalities in Abu Dhabi emirate decreased to 263 last year, compared to more than 400 in 2009.
“There is still more to do, however, especially with regard to driver behaviour and improving road and vehicle safety. One of the committee’s initiatives therefore includes the development of a road code for motorists, which will soon be ready for distribution,” Al Qamzi said.
Safer road designs are also being advocated by the Urban Planning Council, which has included a number of guidelines within its Urban Street Design Manual (USDM).
“Nearly 30 per cent of all urban areas in the emirate comprise of roads and streets, and these need to be made safer for all,” said Ebrahim Al Hmoudi, department manager of transport planning at the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC).
Al Hmoudi cited reports which indicate that 29 per cent of all the emirate’s traffic fatalities in pertain to pedestrians.
“The USDM therefore prioritises pedestrians over all other road users, followed by transit users, cyclists and then motor vehicles. It sets regulations for the design of a road from property boundary to property boundary, instead of just focusing on the distance between curbs,” he explained.
The recently-upgraded Shaikh Zayed Street has been designed according to these requirements. For example, it has tighter right turns with a radius between five and 7.5 metres, compared to right turns on older streets that have a radius between 15 and 25 metres. The reduced radius increases the need for drivers to pay attention when taking the turn, the UPC official said.
“In addition, crossing areas and islands have also been made wider. Such standards will be applied to other roads in Abu Dhabi gradually, and all will have been retrofitted by 2030,” Al Hmoudi told Gulf News.
Municipal officials at the forum also highlighted the results of a recent vehicle-based automated survey of roads and corridors in Abu Dhabi city.
“We noted more than 6,000 issues which needed to be fixed on the roads, including unsafe crossings, poor lighting and unmaintained walkways. A budget of Dh300 million has therefore been allocated to complete these repairs by 2015,” said Majed Al Kthairi, head of traffic services section and road safety at the Municipality.
Already, 13 pedestrian bridges have been set up in the capital, and another 13 are under construction. About 50 kilometres of fencing have also been installed to prevent pedestrians from crossing roads at undesignated areas, and to direct them to safe crossing spots.
“We have also included visual cues for motorists, such as stretches of road and highway marked in red to indicate reductions in maximum speed,” Al Kthairi said.
By Samihah Zaman?Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
