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29 March 2024

Sudden stops kill, refuel on time: Dubai Police

Published
By Mohammed El Sadafy

Failure to refuel vehicles on time, as soon as the low fuel light in your vehicle goes on, can have fatal consequences, warned Dubai Police.

According to Dubai Police statistics, four accidents due to vehicles suddenly stopping in the middle of the road or on the hard shoulder were reported in the first three months of this year, resulting in four deaths and injuring eight people. Statistics also show that 2013 witnessed three such accidents, which resulted in four deaths and two injuries.

Major Ahmad Ateeq Al Ketbi, Director of Patrols department, called on members of the public to move the vehicle out of the traffic flow in case of an emergency, onto the hard shoulder. He said that even if there is a tyre burst, drivers should be able to slowly move the vehicle away from the traffic.

He also said that drivers should then immediately put up the red triangle warning some metres behind the stalled vehicle, and lift the boot of the car to warn other road users.

He also said that in case of vehicle stalling due to lack of fuel, drivers should not attempt to cross busy roads on foot as that will add to the dangers involved as it will expose them to run-over accidents.

Lieutenant Mohammad Aziz, an official in the 999 Rescue Department, said the emergency service receives one call every three days on average from people, often women, seeking help because they’ve run out of fuel.

He said that the first advice that they give such callers is to park their cars on the hard shoulder and then stand away from the hard shoulder as other vehicles could still hit them.

Aziz stressed that ignoring refuelling leads to many fatal accidents. He said that while requesting patrolling policemen to help refuel vehicles wastes their time and exposes the errant drivers to accidents, speeding up to refuel the vehicle when it is running very low on fuel exaggerates the problem as vehicles will consume more fuel when driven on high speed.