Pre-rain safety drive succeeds in Abu Dhabi

No serious accidents were reported on Thursday when the entire Abu Dhabi emirate experienced moderate to heavy rain, the Directorate of Traffic and Patrols said on Friday.

A traffic police officer handing over a safety brochure to a cabbie in Abu Dhabi. — Supplied photo

According to the directorate, all roads in the emirate were safe with no major accidents and casualties, thanks to a road safety campaign launched immediately after receiving the weather forecast over the weekend.

“With bad weather forecast, the entire department of traffic and patrols was in action to supervise and guide the motorists on the main highways in the emirate. On Thursday, we saw the heaviest rainfall and strong winds that could have caused major road accidents and loss of life, but it was the pre-preparation of the Traffic and Patrols Directorate that prevented casualties on the roads and highways,” said Major Mohsen Al Minhali, Head of Exterior Roads at the directorate.

The official further thanked motorists for their support in the safety campaign during the rainy day on Thursday. “Our men were there 24 hours on these highways guiding the motorists with the help of other departments like the Civil Defence and municipality involved in clearing the accumulated water on the roads and ensuring that the drivers had reduced speed and maintained lane discipline and safe distances between vehicles,” said Major Al Minhali.

He also said the directorate had chalked out a long-term plan with the anticipation of further heavy rain and strong winds during the next couple of weeks.

The official said the additional deployment of traffic patrols and rescue teams will continue until the unstable weather conditions change.

He appealed to motorists to exercise caution, and the use of the double signal only when it was necessary, and avoid speeding for the safety of their own lives as well as those of others.

The Traffic and Patrols Directorates of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Tarif (Al Gharbia or Western Region) started a road safety campaign a week ago with the distribution of flyers and brochures on the projected weather condition across the emirate. — nissar@khaleejtimes.com