To RTA and Dubai Police
Reports claim that this project will take around 2 years for completion. Knowing the way things move around here, I would say 2.5 to 3 years in real terms.
Now, should we dance in joy because the daily Sharjah-Dubai drive torment is only a few years away from being over? I wouldn't be so happy, not anytime soon at least; cause things are gonna go downhill from day 1 road works commence.
According to the report, the new planned express way will consist of several bridges, tunnels and flyovers. If that means anything, it means that the already over-congested and heavily bottle-necked Al-ittihad road will go through some major alteration. Hence, traffic between Dubai and Sharja in the coming few years will be worse.
So, a few recommendations I wish RTA and Dubai Police could kindly consider:
1. Reopen the Al Mamzar exit to reduce traffic pressure off Al Ittihad Road.
2. Link Sharjah Cornish to Al Khaleej Road in Dubai - its literally a few meters apart.
3. Introduce a "Light Traffic Patrol" Program: Fresh Police Academy grads on motorbikes and light vehicles, roaming the congested streets and making sure drivers are in their sane state of mind. Their presence alone will not only deter those morons-on-wheels from being ..well.. morons, they will also cover sever shortage of visible police cars during the chaotic rush hours.
4. The LTP will also have cross-emirate jurisdiction. Meaning, they can bounce between Sharjah and Dubai and to spot violations and help fix problems on both sides of emirates accordingly. Revenue of traffic fines will go to the emirate which the violation took place in.
5. Enforce a temporary car-polling regulation where cars with less than 2 people (during morning rush) will be automatically fined using a running mobile video camera or the monitoring police patrols. That should reduce traffic at least by 30 or 40%.
6. Create a Traffic Violation Tolerance Ceiling/threshold on violations committed on Al Ittihad road for repeating offenders during the anticipated road works duration. Any violation committed on that road during the road works period shall be doubled or tripled. Repeating violators shall have their cars confiscated for a minimum of 3 months.
Now I know some of these recommendations could be a bit drastic, but knowing the way people drive here, but the coming few years will be HELL, and everyone knows that desperate times call for desperate measures.
Now, should we dance in joy because the daily Sharjah-Dubai drive torment is only a few years away from being over? I wouldn't be so happy, not anytime soon at least; cause things are gonna go downhill from day 1 road works commence.
According to the report, the new planned express way will consist of several bridges, tunnels and flyovers. If that means anything, it means that the already over-congested and heavily bottle-necked Al-ittihad road will go through some major alteration. Hence, traffic between Dubai and Sharja in the coming few years will be worse.
So, a few recommendations I wish RTA and Dubai Police could kindly consider:
1. Reopen the Al Mamzar exit to reduce traffic pressure off Al Ittihad Road.
2. Link Sharjah Cornish to Al Khaleej Road in Dubai - its literally a few meters apart.
3. Introduce a "Light Traffic Patrol" Program: Fresh Police Academy grads on motorbikes and light vehicles, roaming the congested streets and making sure drivers are in their sane state of mind. Their presence alone will not only deter those morons-on-wheels from being ..well.. morons, they will also cover sever shortage of visible police cars during the chaotic rush hours.
4. The LTP will also have cross-emirate jurisdiction. Meaning, they can bounce between Sharjah and Dubai and to spot violations and help fix problems on both sides of emirates accordingly. Revenue of traffic fines will go to the emirate which the violation took place in.
5. Enforce a temporary car-polling regulation where cars with less than 2 people (during morning rush) will be automatically fined using a running mobile video camera or the monitoring police patrols. That should reduce traffic at least by 30 or 40%.
6. Create a Traffic Violation Tolerance Ceiling/threshold on violations committed on Al Ittihad road for repeating offenders during the anticipated road works duration. Any violation committed on that road during the road works period shall be doubled or tripled. Repeating violators shall have their cars confiscated for a minimum of 3 months.
Now I know some of these recommendations could be a bit drastic, but knowing the way people drive here, but the coming few years will be HELL, and everyone knows that desperate times call for desperate measures.
posted by moryarti at
3/25/2006 04:00:00 PM
7 Comments:
it's already going to be a problem if it's going to be completed in 2 years time /:
They need to start doing pre-emptive strikes.
By
samuraisam, at March 25, 2006 at 6:10 PM
yeah sam - thats exactly what i meant with all these points - to slightly offset the chaos thats gonna take place after the road works start
By
moryarti, at March 25, 2006 at 10:46 PM
Do you think that they could ever be this forward thinking?
Moryarti for Road & Transport Minister!
Or - hopefully - someone in the RTA will read your blog and steal your ideas!
By
nzm, at March 26, 2006 at 8:58 AM
My point was more about pre-empting the problem in the first place, i.e. all of the extra lanes and bridges etc should be built already.
By
samuraisam, at March 26, 2006 at 10:44 AM
Stealing our ideas - oh I wish they would!
Sadly, though, they don't read us. If they did we wouldn't have had the head of the traffic police a week or so ago being surprised to discover there was a problem on the roads. Aaaarrrrggghhh!!!
By
Seabee, at March 26, 2006 at 2:50 PM
It doesn't matter how many cops are on the road, everyone knows that they will not stop any drivers. The speed camera article in 7 days a couple of weeks ago said that the police like cameras since they don't argue at the roadside.
As long as the cops are afraid to stop anyone for fear of their wasta, nothing can change.
By
Desert_Weasel, at March 26, 2006 at 8:19 PM
They need to distinguish between commuter-drivers and "mobile professionals" - people who need to drive during the working day due to the nature of their work.
This obviously includes actual drivers and delivery people, but also PROs, sales people, execs that travel for meetings, journalists, PR professionals, doctors and medical staff, and so on.
The people that need to be limited/penalised are those that sit at a desk in an office from 9-5 without going anywhere. They have no need to be mobile during the day: therefore there should be no issue with making them take pooled or public transport.
I would also give all locals exemptions, regardless of their jobs (there aren't that many of them anyway, by comparison). It's your Sharjah computer programmers and bank clerks and shop workers that are the problem. It's not entirely their fault, but the roads are now gridlocked and the hurt needs to start with them.
By
secretdubai, at March 31, 2006 at 12:31 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home