The Traffic and Patrols Directorate at Abu Dhabi Police had recently completed about 76 traffic studies, which included specialized technical studies, researches, reports, standardized comparisons, and presentations on traffic safety levels. This underscores the attention dedicated by the Directorate to make use of the results and recommendations of researches and scientific studies regarding the causes of traffic accidents which are related to the driver, the road, the vehicle, and the weather; so as to be applied in a way that contributes to enhancing traffic safety.
Colonel Khalifa Mohammed Al Khaili, Director of the Traffic and Road Safety Engineering Department, at the Traffic and Patrols Directorate of Abu Dhabi Police, indicated that the directorate has adopted traffic researches and studies being of the main pillars of its plan aimed at improving the levels of traffic safety, by analyzing traffic statistics related to traffic accidents and violations, as well as reviewing the laws and offering any observations or recommendations to modify them in the light of the outcome of the practical application of its provisions.
He also noted that the researches have been conducted by experts from the directorate in accordance with the methodology, criteria, and conditions for scientific research. He explained that a total of 16 traffic researches were published in international conferences and journals; so as to foster the Directorate’s position. In addition, he pointed out to their importance in studying the socio-economic characteristics of traffic law violators, committers of dangerous violations, and those who cause serious accidents through collaboration with research centers in the State (University of Sharjah – American University of Sharjah); in a bid to enhance traffic safety efforts.
Moreover, Al Khaili noted that those studies included several topics, one of which is a study entitled ”traffic accidents that occur as a result of fog and low visibility-assessing the problem and finding the ways to address it”; by presenting experiences, practices, and methods followed by the leading countries in the area of traffic safety. This could be achieved by conducting a comparative study of fog-related accidents that occurred in Abu Dhabi in the past four years (2009-2012).
Furthermore, traffic studies included a study of traffic safety levels in the school transportation system in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and their evaluation in terms of the driver, the bus, the infrastructure, the applicable rules, the performance levels, and analyzing the data of school bus accidents in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi during the past years. The results of the study have shown an urgent need for a supervising and educational authority to provide practical lessons for bus drivers.
According to the traffic study entitled “the behavior of young road users and its effect on traffic safety levels in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,” there is a close relationship between the number of driving experience years and the accidents rate estimated through the number of vehicle drivers who cause traffic accidents. The study also indicated that the vast majority of drivers causing speed-related accidents are young people and recommended the development of a mechanism for driving license applicants including young people, in addition to a mechanism to follow up their behaviors through records of traffic accidents and violations during the first three years of obtaining the driving license. It also stressed the need to increase commitment to traffic laws; so as to avoid others’ mistakes and committing mistakes leading to traffic accidents that result in fatalities and severe injuries.