The National (16 October 2008) reports that Abu Dhabi taxi drivers will be prevented from exceeding 120kph with the introduction of speed-limiting devices in their vehicles.This is a good move but why apply it only to taxis?
Speed-regulating devices should be fitted to all cars on UAE roads to reduce the accident rate and save lives.
Surveys on the reasons for the UAE having one of the highest road accident rates in the world have been conducted regularly and have usually pinpointed carelessness and excessive speed as the greatest factors.
Brigadier Mohammad Saif Al Zafein, Director of the Dubai Police Traffic Department, was reported this week (21 October 2008) saying that 211 people have died in road accidents in the past nine months and citing speeding as one of the chief contributors to the carnage.
Matthew Chung told his readers at The National:
“The device limits the flow of fuel to the vehicle’s engine when 116kph is reached, causing the car to level out at 120kph.”
“On the emirate’s motorways, where many drivers travel at speeds exceeding 160kph, the move would leave a taxi driver with little choice but to stick to the slower lanes.”
The speed-limiting devices would not only reduce the speed but curb the related practice of car chases that is a major cause of accidents and fatalities on the roads.
If this regulator was deemed to make a car unsafe it surely would not be fitted to taxis. The devices come with boosters for those times when a driver needs to accelerate out of danger.
Why ever would drivers need to exceed 120 kph when most UAE roads have a speed limit of 100 kph?
The proposal to mechanically limit the speed on all UAE cars to 120 kph is aimed to put public safety and the saving of lives above the need for personal freedom.
More Articles on Driving in the UAE:
The Road: The Most Dangerous Place in the Emirates, ETE.
UAE: The Tailgating Capital of the World, ETE.
The UAE Where the STOP sign Means GIVE WAY, ETE.
Check out this video of a new, £12 mill British car that goes faster than a bullet, or to be more precise 1,000 mph. This says something, not only about record breaking but the common addiction to speed.
What do you think about putting a speed regulating device on all vehicles in the UAE?
Dr Geoff Pound
Image: Scenes from UAE roads.
