Dh2m cash for Dubai's 'Taxi Knights'

RTA’s Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) has awarded 30 drivers under the Traffic Safety award in order to raise awareness among cabbies about road safety and safe driving and improve the operational efficiency.

Dr. Yousef Al Ali, CEO of the Dubai Taxi Corporation, said the new initiatives and programmes for drivers are aimed at stepping their satisfaction, training and grooming them in a comprehensive manner to deliver their jobs.

RTA will reward honest drivers on monthly basis and decorate excellent-performing drivers according to the performance assessment system on quarterly basis for which annual cash rewards of Dh2 million are allocated.

Decoration also covers drivers with long and outstanding service as well as other initiatives all aimed at raising drivers’ satisfaction rating; which will in turn reflect positively on the satisfaction rating of our customers and the community, said Al Ali.

“I’m pleased to announce the introduction of the Dubai Taxi Knight Award from the Exemplary & Distinguished Drivers category. We will be celebrating two cabbies by offering them vehicles courtesy of Al Futtaim Motors. We are currently finalising the conditions and standards for this award, which will be unveiled shortly.

“Honoring 30 Exemplary cabbies out of a total of nearly 11,000 cabdrivers through the Traffic Safety Awards launched by DTC in 2010 came in response to an initiative launched by the Traffic Safety Team. The Award’s pool of prize-money soared from Dh185,000 to Dh390,000, and is divided into three categories: Gold Award, amounting Dh5,000 + appreciation certificate, Silver Award offering Dh4,000 + appreciation certificate, and the Bronze Award which is worth Dh3,000 + appreciation certificate,” added Al Ali.

Psychological aspects of drivers

Ammar Al Buraiki, Director of Fleet Operation and Head of Traffic Safety Team, noted that the DTC had accorded paramount attention to cabdrivers by highlighting to them the importance of safe driving for their own safety as well as the safety of riders and road users.

“DTC has introduced several creative initiatives such as Brake Plus, and Back-off Radio, which aim to remind road users of leaving a safe breaking distance when they get closer to taxicabs by sending them warning signals or voice messages. Moreover, DTC entered in a successful partnership with Dubai Police resulted in developing drivers-oriented traffic awareness modules where classes are held regularly in the presence of elite experts and instructors.

“Cabdrivers are subjected to the circumstances experienced by the victims of accidents through regular field visits to those involved in traffic accidents. Specialised psychologists are invited to study the psychological aspects of drivers, and the DTC is seeking to benefit from the best drivers training practices applicable in leading countries such as Singapore, and adopt their methodologies in training drivers,” explained Al Buraiki.

“These steps have resulted in many achievements such as lowering red accidents rates from 0.61 in 2008 to 0.28 in 2014, i.e. dropping by as much as 54 per cent. The Green accidents plummeted from 1.25 down to 0.84, recording a drop rate of 33 per cent. Thus the total number of accidents plunged from 1.98 in 2008 to 1.24 in 2014, dropping by 37 per cent,” he continued.

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