Driving through the fog of reason

Aggressive traffic enforcement is needed to change the bad behaviour of reckless driving

Careful driving is especially important in foggy conditions. Pawan Singh / The National

The story is a familiar one. Seasonal fog envelops our roads resulting in tragic accidents that claim innocent lives. Some are quick to blame weather conditions, but the hard truth points to a culture of reckless driving as the main culprit. To fix this problem, we must address the behaviour that allows this type of driving to flourish. The right legislation is in place to punish reckless drivers but there needs to be better enforcement and a genuine sense that there are consequences for actions. Only then will there be a behavioural change in drivers.

As The National reported, two women and a girl died on Sunday in Hatta. There were multiple pile-ups amid heavy fog on the E11 Abu Dhabi-Dubai road. Yesterday, 20 cars were involved in an incident on the E311 in Umm Al Quwain. The presence of additional electronic matrix warning signs could have helped avert these tragedies but careless driving is likely to have contributed to the chaos.

These incidents brought with them painful memories of Fog Tuesday, when four people were killed, 350 injured and 20 cars caught fire in a mass accident in March 2008. Improvements have been made since that fateful day seven years ago, but there is still much work that needs to be done to change attitudes among drivers.

To begin with, there must be more visible traffic enforcement on the roads. The traffic laws currently on the statute books are of the highest international standard, but enforcement should be more visible and more pronounced. Imagine the effect of regularly seeing traffic officers pulling over speeding drivers on the E11. The sight of a police car out on patrol would soon send out the clear message that there are consequences for dangerous driving.

We have established one of the safest societies in the world partly through the image that our legal system is to be respected. However, when it comes to our roads, too many don’t feel there are any consequences to bad driving. Until that norm changes, horrific road accidents will remain a depressing and constant reality.