The first day of school went relatively smooth sans accidents and major traffic bottlenecks in many parts of Dubai.
As part of the Khaleej Times' School Safe Drive campaign, we travelled on a Dubai Traffic Police patrol to monitor the traffic on Sunday.
To our surprise, the Sheikh Zayed Road and many parts of the new Dubai area were relatively traffic-free between 7am and 9am considered the peak hours. "There are no traffic chaos as is usually the case on the first day of school. I think we will experience the real back to school traffic on Monday," said Second Lieutenant Ali Alasmawi.
However, the officer said the Dubai Police spared no effort to ensure roads are accident-free on the first day. In response to the Dubai Police' call for road safety, thousands of parents had undertaken an online pledge to abide by the traffic rules ahead of the school reopening.
"It is a joint responsibility. We do our best to ensure the roads are safe. However, we want parents, drivers and schools to behave responsibly too," said Alasmawi.
The officer urged parents to plan their mornings better so that they are not in a rush to drop off their children. "We always see parents dropping off their kids on the hard shoulder. It is dangerous," said the cop.
"Accidents can happen if you stop your car on the hard shoulder even for a few seconds. It is important to stop the car in the designated parking lot near the school."
The school staff managing the traffic rush in front of the school, the cop said, is doing a great service to ensure the safety of children. Many parents in Sharjah said morning rush started on Sunday itself though many children stayed at home on the first day.
"There was some confusion regarding the public holiday for the Hijri new year. But, there was a big traffic block near Al Majaz area where I stay," said Krishnakumari, an Indian parent.
Slow-moving traffic was reported on many roads in the morning hours, including Ras Al Khor Road, Al Khail Road and Al Ittihad Road.
In Abu Dhabi, traffic police patrol vehicles were seen patrolling near schools in the Khalifa City area where minor congestion was reported by parents. "It was not as bad as I thought. But there was some traffic still," said Ilham Ibrahim, a mother of two living in Raha Gardens.
