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A cop with a passion for mobike and work

DUBAI — As a teenager, this guy was fond of riding a motorcycle. And what better way could there be for him to pursue his passion without having to pay for a mobike. He joined the Sharjah Police Traffic Department and has been riding high-powered mobikes in pursuit of his duty as traffic police controller.

Issam Al Sayed Hassanain, 43-year-old Egyptian national, is serving the Sharjah Police for the past 19 years. Despite the long hours and gruelling duties, Hassanain goes about his job sincerely and without any prejudice.

Day starts early

His day begins at dawn with the morning prayers, after which he reports for work at 6.00am. As head of traffic controllers Hassanain gives instructions to the team of traffic policemen and assigns them to various locations in the emirate of Sharjah.

As part of his daily routine, Hassanain supervises the traffic movement, issues tickets to violators of traffic rules even makes arrangements for VIP movement.

In the event of a road accident, the Operations Room relays a message to Hassanain, who rushes to the scene on his powerful Yamaha 900cc mobike. Besides regulating the traffic flow around the scene of accident, he has to inform the relevant authorities to arrange for an ambulance and first-aid service, if required.

“As an officer on a motorcycle, it is easier for me to reach the scene of accidents even in crowded areas faster than the police patrol cars,” he notes.

Though he enjoys doing his job, there are times when he feels bogged down by unfavourable conditions, for instance, controlling the traffic during the peak summer days, dust storms or rains.

There are also some exceptionally bad days when he has to handle some difficult motorists who do not seem to understand the situation and engage him in unnecessary argument.

Sound PR skills

However, with the help of his public relations skills, Hasannain at the end of the day takes pride in handling the “difficult” cases without having to ruffle the feathers.

Though gliding through the traffic on a high-powered mobike does provide him the thrills, Hassanain says he is always at risk, specially when squeezing through the maze of traffic while responding to an urgent call from the Operations Room.

He explains that traffic controllers are under constant mental psychological pressure, specially when they see one of their colleagues getting injured in the line of duty. “This is because the motorcyclist, without much body protection, is susceptible to accidents more than the motorists who have better protection as the vehicle absorbs part of the accident’s impact,” he points out.

One thing that makes his work difficult is that in the event of an accident, people in most cases are unable to provide the correct location, hence he has to use his knowledge of the roads network and follow the map to reach the accident site.

Hassanain gets emotionally stressed when he sees young people, particularly children, getting injured in high-speed accidents on the highways.

Despite the tensions of the daily life, he tries to be courteous to the elderly, women and people with special needs while handling their problems on the roads.

The hard work that he puts in throughout the day is best compensated by the five-day-week privilege.

On his off-days, he tries to catch up on sleep as much as possible.

• UAE