Dubai Road Crash: Bus wasn't equipped with speed-limiter

Road safety officials have called for stricter regulations including mandatory speed-limiters and bi-annual inspections for all private transport buses.

Fifteen people were killed in an early morning accident on Dubai-Al Ain road on Saturday when the bus they were travelling in rammed against a truck parked on the hard shoulder.

Pramod P, a spokesperson of the labour supply company whose employees were killed in the accident, told Emirates 24|7 that the bus involved in the fatal crash was not equipped with speed-limiters.

“We only have them installed in our mini-buses,” he said.

Thomas Edelmann, Founder of the website Road Safety UAE, believes stricter regulations governing speed limits of worker transportation buses will go a long way in making UAE roads safer for all stakeholders.

“A lot more needs to done to ensure that such accidents can be avoided in the future. Firstly, there should be technical equipment in place to ensure safety on the roads. There should be stricter regulations in place like speed-limiters for such buses and mandatory seat belts for all passengers.

These laws should be strictly implemented and enforced,” says Edelmann.

At present, school buses in the UAE have mandatory speed-limiters installed on all types of buses, be they 15-, 18-, 22- , 30- or 48-seaters. The limit is set at 80kmph.

The speed-limiters or speed-governors as they are often called are also mandatory for mini-buses with a seating capacity of 22 and below, with a mandated speed limit of 100kmph.

The UAE’s Ministry of Interior passed a law in this regard based on the recommendations of the Emirates Authority for Standardisation & Metrology (Esma), the UAE’s standardisation body. The order was implemented in March 2013.

When approached by Emirates 24|7, an Esma official said the body might reconsider the categories of vehicles that need to be included on the mandatory speed-limiters list, with a probable inclusion of buses with a seating capacity of 30 and more.

“We are awaiting a detailed report on the accident from the police in this regard. If over-speeding is a factor that caused the accident and led to such a major causality, then we will try and extend the scope and add new type of regulation,” said the Esma official who did not wish to be named.

“We only give our recommendation based on inputs from the police department and the Ministry of Interior,” he added.

The 2013 regulation made it mandatory for all public transport vehicles less than 22 seats (considered as mini vehicles or buses) to have speed-limiters installed. “The registration of such vehicles cannot be renewed if they are found violating the rules,” he said.

The law also bars such vehicles from adding additional aisle seats. “There were companies who shipped in vehicles and later altered them by adding additional seats. Such practices add to the risk factor of the transport vehicles,” he said.

Road Safety UAE’s Edelmann also calls upon officials to increase the frequency of inspections and checks. “There should be more inspections of these vehicles, maybe twice a year or every quarter to check safety standards like the condition of tyres, etc,” he says.

He also stressed that driver fatigue needs to be considered and it is important that they are not overburdened. “All drivers should be well-rested and be alert on the road. There is no room for fatigue when one is on the road,” he said.

As Edelmann points out, while some companies flout these safety standards, there are many brilliant examples in the UAE. “There are companies with hundreds of buses operating on cutting-edge technologies. That should be the norm,” he said.

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