- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 04:18 05:40 12:28 15:52 19:10 20:33
Wind speeds reaching highs of 40km per hour over land. (Dalton B)
A couple of days of rain earlier this week caused havoc on UAE’s roads, with reports of hundreds of accidents and even fatalities. More bad weather is predicted for the coming days.
Authorities are urging motorists to drive carefully to avoid any untoward happenings on the roads.
The ground rule is: when visibility goes down, our attention on the road must go up. We must slow down and the distance to the vehicle in front must go up. We must show a caring attitude towards our own safety and the safety of other traffic participants.
RoadSafetyUAE.com provides some tips and tricks when it comes to driving on slippery roads these days.
• Visibility Down => Slow Down => Attention Up => Distance Up!
• Increase the distance from the 2 seconds in good weather to a minimum of 5 seconds – you must be able to stop within the distance of visibility!
• Turn on the lights: low beam head lights, front and rear fog lights (no hazard lights!)
• Consider longer braking distances due to wet or slippery road surface
• Use your windscreen wipers properly (and maintain them properly!)
• Concentrate and do not get distracted by your passengers, your phone or other things
• Listen to the radio for traffic updates
• Care for others, especially for weaker traffic participants like motor cycle drivers, bicycle riders and pedestrian
• Ask your passengers to help keep an eye out for oncoming cars and obstacles on the road
• Stay in your lane and don’t drift – there’s a natural tendency to wander into the middle of the road when visibility gets bad
• Use the right edge of the road as a guide – this can help you avoid running into oncoming traffic or being blinded by oncoming headlights
• If you have no visibility, pull over to the side of the road and turning on your hazard lights alert other drivers of where you are, or pull into petrol stations or rest areas.
• Plan your trip properly and leave earlier or try not to be on the road at all, if possible
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.