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29 March 2024

Abu Dhabi deploys more mobile speed cameras

Published
By Staff

Abu Dhabi’s traffic police have deployed 40 more mobile speed cameras within an ongoing campaign intended to curb speed and reckless driving which they say is the main cause of accidents in the emirate.

The new cameras, better known as Qannas, have been supplied to police patrols in the capital to support other anti-speed measures, including fixed traffic cameras, intensified police presence on roads and black points.

“The deployment of more Qannas cameras is meant to curb speed and reckless driving, ensure respect of traffic rules and support our traffic safety strategy, which is now our priority away from any financial considerations,” said Brigadier Hussein al Harithi, head of the Abu Dhabi traffic police and patrols.

“We have conducted studies which showed that hunting speeding cars has a positive effect on traffic and improves road safety.”

Quoted by the Arabic language daily Alkhaleej on Tuesday, Harithi said the new Qannas cameras are the latest in speed hunting devises as they can detect speeding cars from a distance in bad weather conditions.

He said they are small and can be carried by police men or placed inside traffic police cars or vehicles used by plainclothes traffic detectives. Abu Dhabi, with a population of around one million, has already installed more than 600 such advanced tiny video cameras on top of pylons on most streets in the capital and more will be fixed in the near future.

T-shaped pylons have been erected through the streets and most of them now carry those video cameras which mainly target reckless drivers and those who do not use the seat belts and illegally talk on their mobile phones while driving.

Abu Dhabi has one of the highest traffic accident rates in the world because of persistent driving violations and the sharp rise in the number of cars. At the end of 2009, the city had nearly 468,000 vehicles including 398,000 privately owned cars, according to the emirate’s traffic police.

Road mishaps killed nearly 1,704 people in Abu Dhabi during 2005-2009 and more than 80 per cent of them were caused by human errors and violations.

“As for injuries, they were up by around 132 per cent in 2009 over 2005 while last year police recorded about 6,804 offences involving jumping the red light, nearly 38 per cent higher than those recorded in 2005,” said a recent study by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.

“But it was not only for drivers’ mistakes…..our records show that 53.5 per cent of the pedestrians do not abide by crossing rules and this is considered as a main reason for the increase in road accidents.”