Safety failings may have caused Eid bus crash that killed 17 in Dubai

A technical report in court revealed there were no height and speed warning signs that could have alerted the driver

A technical report submitted in court says poor signage may have been in part responsible for the Eid bus crash that killed 17 people in Dubai last year. Courtesy: Dubai Police

Faulty and unclear road signs may have been in part responsible for the Eid bus crash that killed 17 people in Dubai last year.

A technical report submitted to the Dubai Court of Appeal, said there were no height and speed warnings signs that could have alerted the driver.

The Omani driver, 53, crashed into an overhead height restriction barrier in  June last year.

He was charged with causing the death of 17 people and injuring 13 others returning to Dubai from an Eid break in Oman.

Police said the driver of a Mwasalat tourist bus, which operates twice daily between Muscat and Dubai, was driving at 94kph – more than double the 40kph limit on that road – and did not pay attention to traffic signs when he drove on to a lane with a height constraint.

A month later, the driver was sentenced to seven years in prison  and was ordered to pay Dh3.4 million in blood money to families of the victims.

But the new report found that a lack of proper signage could have caused the accident.

“There were no signs to warn that there was a low-height barrier, and the speed limit of 60kph was not reduced until after the low-height flyover,” read the report.

The height-restriction barrier was also not placed correctly, said the report.

Lawyers Mohammed Saif Al Tamimi and Mohammed Al Saberi had previously argued in court that safety failings on the road caused the accident.

They argued the driver should be cleared.

Last October, the appeals court assigned a team of experts to assess the safety of the road.

Three road engineers assessed the flyover to check if there were any safety loopholes.

The case has been adjourned.