Dubai to monitor fog for road and sea safety

Dubai Municipality is collaborating with Dubai Police to monitor bad weather conditions aimed at improving safety on the roads and at sea.

Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, has said that the Municipality has been collaborating with Dubai Police since last year to monitor difficult weather conditions in the emirate.

In 2012, the Survey Department at Dubai Municipality launched its main fog and meteorological station in Al Warqa'a, which is connected with the network of 13 other substations in different locations across Dubai, aiming at improving road and sea safety. 

Lootah said the initiative is aimed to avoid shocking accidents like the one which happened in 2008 in Ghantoot, in which four people died and hundreds were injured because of low visibility on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway. A similar pile-up in Jebel Ali killed a bus driver and injured 40 people two years later.

Dubai Police meanwhile recorded 289 traffic accidents and received 2,200 calls between 3am and midday this Tuesday as fog descended on the emirate’s roads.

Mohammad Mahmood Mashroom, Director of the Survey Department, said that the information collected through the monitoring system will be sent to Dubai Police and Coastal Guards to take appropriate action in case of low visibility and heavy fog enabling them to warn drivers about fog conditions to prevent road accidents.

"Eight automated fog-detection machines are located on land, mostly near main highways. Five others are sited near coasts and one has been set up in the sea, about 20km off the Jumeirah coast," he explained.

He also urged the public to use smart apps of government departments and authorities to benefit from accurate information and save lives in bad weather conditions.



 

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