Police save driver in second case of accelerator failure

Car travelling at 138 kph stopped after banging into police car

By
  • Staff
Published

UAE traffic police again saved the life of an Emirati man whose car accelerator went out of control in the northern emirates, in the second such breakdown in the country in less than a month, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Mohammed Abdullah, 21, was on Emirates Road heading from Ras Al Khaimah to Umm Al Quwain when his car’s accelerator failed at 138 kph.

Panicking, he phoned the police emergency and told them he can no longer stop his car as he was approaching Sharjah.

“He said that he had tried many times to press the brakes but they did not respond….he said the car would not even slow down and that he needed urgent help before reaching busy streets in Sharjah,” the Arabic language daily Alittihad said, quoting Major Talal Al Kharji, operations chief at UAQ police.

Kharji said police managed to locate that car at intersection 103 on Emirates Road towards Sharjah just after mid night, adding that many police cars and ambulances rushed to the scene.

He said police then tried to give Abdullah instructions by phone to stop the car but they did not work as he was alone in the car and was confused.

The paper quoted another police officer as saying police patrols then spotted that car and rushed towards Sharjah to clear the way ahead.

“One patrol car drove in front of that vehicle near junction 95…the police then asked Abdullah to bang his car into the rear of the patrol car,” said Major Saif Al Ali, head of Al Salma police statin in UAQ.

“He started to implement those instructions…after three attempts, his car began to slow down and finally came to a standstill…the driver emerged unscathed and there were no casualties on the road.”

Abdullah said he had a feeling that he would not emerge alive from that ordeal, crediting his rescue to the “brave” police men.

It was the second incident of its kind in less than a month. In late August, police men saved the life of an Emirati driver after the accelerator system in his Land Cruiser failed on Emirates Road as he headed for RAK.

ALSO READ:

Sharjah motorists ask for review of car parking rule




Raft of new rules for property firms proposed to safeguard tenants




Dh10 for students’ delay at Al Ain school


 

  • Twitter
  • submit to reddit

Comments

  • M. 21 September 2012 15:33 0 0
    Possible ways to slow-down apart from handbraking is shifting to a lower gear carefully, it will spoil your engine and gearbox but it will save your life at least.
  • Froggy 21 September 2012 15:02 0 0
    I had a similar issue once on my Peugeot SW, where the coolant tank burst and my car was heating up. Suffice to say i cudn't stop the engine even after turning off the ignition and pulling out the key. The car was then parked and still running, so i popped the hood and unplugged the wire leads to the spark plugs, that did it for me.
  • Roger Swainson 21 September 2012 12:09 0 4
    Clive, I am sorry, but that is utter rubbish. I have done this many times in the past. How can turning the ignition off cause a fire? How? You are cutting off the power to the engine.
  • Abu Bakar Siddiqi 21 September 2012 10:54 2 0
    UAE Police are AWESOOME. They are on par or even smarter than mostof the advanced western countries. To make up a plan ( to ram the Land Cruiser cruising at 138 Kmp into the Polic Patrol car to slow it down) in such Critical time speaks about their Grit, Courage, Intelligence and Efficiency. No wonder UAE is the best country to live in today.
  • Matt 20 September 2012 23:40 0 1
    This is the second case in less than a month where a Land Cruiser had an accelerator system failure and could not slow down. Sounds like a manufacturing defect from Toyota. The first one was on the way to RAK, probably on Emirates Road as well and the driver managed to slow down using the hand brake.
  • Ahmad 20 September 2012 21:33 2 1
    Maybe these drivers tweaked the engine or did some technical enhancement which resulted in damaging the mechanism of the car...
  • Expat 20 September 2012 15:54 1 0
    I wonder how periodically the car is serviced by the owner. If there was regular service and the car is not more than 5 years old, the service provider also needs to answer on such dangerous failures to their machines. Some services done even with the main car agent do not give good results and customers are at the mercy of the Car Company.
  • Dean 20 September 2012 15:53 4 0
    Hats off to UAE POLICE keep up the good work. 140km is the Limit i dont see any harm in that better than those who drive at 40km on Express lane and cause major accidents.
  • Danushke 20 September 2012 15:20 9 2
    This innocent fellow was only driving at 138Kmph
  • clive 20 September 2012 14:19 5 0
    @roger : do you even know just turning the ignition off can cause a fire in the car , iam an mechanic , in this time even gears doesnt work , the way to slow it is just pulling the hand breaks but thats a problem with these days of young mens they just burnout and do stuff which MAKES this things happen x_x
  • Joseph 20 September 2012 13:38 0 0
    Some persons,having medium costly car, think that the lesser ones have to give way. They flash light on the car going at 120kmph (max.permissible limit)and press with full force on the accelerator, to give the panic to the vehicle before them. This is dangerous to them also as they are put to panic and loose to control simple techniques like Roger said. Traffic rules are formulated after careful study and it good to follow them.
  • Ahmed 20 September 2012 13:15 5 1
    The better question is what’s wrong with Japanese cars?! I believe safety is not a priority for Japanese manufacturers, all what they think about is cutting manufacturing costs, using cheap materials and eating biggest market share.
  • Kevin 20 September 2012 13:11 5 0
    Many modern cars that rely heavily on electronics might lock up the gearbox and even ignition while driving.
  • Roger Swainson 20 September 2012 12:17 8 11
    What is wrong with just simply turning the ignition off, or putting the gears into neutral? Or are you saying this doesn't work either?

Have your say

Comments submitted by third parties on this site are the sole responsibility of the individual/s whose content is submitted. DMI accepts no responsibility for the content of comment/s, including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein. Please note that your email address will NOT appear on the site.

By submitting your comments you agree to this website's Terms & Conditions

Type in the characters you see in the picture below.

Videos

See more videos

News In Images

See more galleries

Follow
Emirates 24|7

Follow
Emirates 24|7 Google+ Facebook Twitter RSS

Most Popular in News

Latest jobs available

More jobs on Emirates 24|7

Related articles

In Case You Missed It ...

Back to top