Dubai project that reduced accident response, clearance time to be expanded to more roads

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A project that has reduced the time needed to clear accidents on Dubai roads to just eight minutes will be expanded to include more streets. The collaboration project between the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Dubai Police also reduced time needed by the police to respond to accidents to just six minutes.

The Traffic Incident Management Unit (TIMU) project will be expanded to include four additional main road corridors by the end of this year. This will increase the number of streets covered by the project from 13 to 17 and will span 951km.

The unit handled 22,341 traffic incidents from November 2022 until January 2024 including more than 9,000 vehicle towing operations. The injury rate on the corridors managed by the unit dropped by 6.5 per cent and fatalities were cut by 5 per cent.

Scope of project

The TIMU addresses vehicle breakdowns, swiftly manages accident scenes and restores normal traffic flow after an accident. According to Mattar Al Tayer, Director General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, the unit has certain goals to achieve.

“Specific locations have been designated for the deployment of rapid response vehicles on major highways and critical roads to ensure their quick arrival at accident scenes, aiming for a response time of 10 minutes and a clearance time of 15 minutes,” he said. “The scope of the project also covers implementing temporary traffic diversions in the surrounding areas, aiding motorists and providing traffic management support during events.”

Since the beginning of this year, six key corridors and streets have been added to the project. The expansion included:

Sheikh Zayed Road (encompassing Sheikh Rashid Road and Al Ittihad Road)
Al Khail Road (Phase I from the Business Bay crossing to Ras Al Khor Road )
Dubai - Al Ain Road
Al Yalayis Street
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road
Al Rabat Street
Airport Street
Al Khail Road (Phase II from Ras Al Khor Street to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road)
Emirates Road
Jebel Ali-Lehbab Road
Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan Street, along with Al Wasl and Jumeirah Streets

By the end of this year, an additional four main corridors will be added, including Ras Al Khor Street, Umm Suqeim Street, Expo Road and Hessa Street. This will bring the total to 17 corridors, streets and roads extending over 951 km in both directions

Benefits to road users

According to Al Tayer, the project has benefited road users in a number of ways. “It contributed to their safety and time savings by minimising traffic accident-related delays,” he said. “Achievements include a response rate of about 6 minutes and an average vehicle clearance time of 8 minutes.”

The project is considered a key contributor to improving the integration of road and transport networks and has resulted in the average travel time to 10.2 minutes as per the TomTom Index, which measures the time needed to travel a 10 km-distance in the Central Business District (CBD).

Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, stated that a lot of research has gone into making the project a success. "Since the project's inception in 2018 and throughout the initial phase, Dubai Police have conducted thorough investigations into serious and injury-related incidents, enforced traffic laws and offered legal assistance to the incident management unit besides monitoring traffic cameras and running rescue operations for incidents involving injuries,” he said. "Furthermore, Dubai Police carried out tudies to enhance traffic incident management across the emirate and prepared a guide aimed at improving the handling of such incidents.”

According to him, the initial phases of the project yielded excellent results that improved the speed of security responses and reduced traffic congestion.

“The traffic incident management project is set to shorten the clearance time for minor incidents by 35 per cent, cut down congestion and related expenses by 25 per cent, and diminish the frequency of secondary incidents,” explained Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri.