• Home

MoI orders mobilisation of all resources

Abu Dhabi- Abu Dhabi police has swung into action immediately after the horrific accident, which took place on Abu Dhabi-Dubai Highway, Lieutenant General Saif Abdullah Al Shaffar, Undersecretary of the ministry of interior told Khaleej Times.

Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of interior had ordered mobilizing of all resources, personnel, ambulance vans and civil defense equipment, to rescue the injuried people and rushed them to the nearby hospitals, he said. Lt. General Shaffar said Lt. General Shaikh Saif also called for using the well-equipped helicopters when the heavy fog began to gradually fade away.

The ghastly accident took place due to over speed and drivers unaware of the bad weather, and the heavy fog which enveloped the place when the incident took place, he noted.

The speed on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway is 140 kilometre/hour, and motorists should abide by that limit under normal weather conditions, but not to drive at such a speed when it is foggy, and this exactly what those who were involved in the accident did, he said.

The majority of the drivers who were apparently caused the accident were speeding, and driving without paying attention or driving carefully, he said without naming or identifying them.

The ministry of interior is intensifying its efforts to reach the Arab and foreign expatriates, who are unaware of traffic rules to educate them on how to drive in foggy, rainy weather and other bad climatic conditions, he said . He said Police would beef up its education campaigns through print, audio-visual media with multi-languages of foreign communities in the country, he noted.

We would also work to interact with contracting companies and other establishments to raise the sense of awareness of their drivers on traffic rules, he said.

The accident had revealed that many of the said categories lack the sense of traffic rules, he disclosed.

Succinctly, he said, we are in need of facilities to spread awareness among motorists, and without them, our efforts and the government will not be strongly felt regarding the improvement of roads and their related services. On the plan of constructing an alternative road to avoid the traffic disruption on the road linking the capital and Dubai as a result of similar accidents, he said there are already alternative roads the policemen had ordered the motorists to use so the vehicular traffic could flow smoothly.

In America and other advanced countries accidents brought traffic to standstill, and this what happened here yesterday (Tuesday), but under such circumstances our main job was to rescue the people and rush the injured to hospitals as well as putting out the fires to ensure the public safety on these roads, he added.

• UAE