Abu Dhabi Police unveils plan to fight fog

Fog covered parts of Dubai skyline on Monday and more fog is expected on Tuesday. Rene Slama / AFP

More police patrols and a ban on lorries, heavy vehicles, and buses transporting workers are among the measures that are being implemented by Abu Dhabi Police during foggy weather.

Brig Khalifa Al Khaili, deputy director of the Traffic and Patrols Directorate, said the department always had a contingency plan in place to deal with traffic accidents that occurred during fog.

The plan was chalked out in coordination with Civil Defence, ambulances and other rescue bodies, with the aim to control traffic flow and ensure injured people were transported to hospital in a way that did not affect other road users.

Dense fog across the country on Monday reduced visibility on the roads to less than 100 metres in some parts, prompting warnings from forecasters and police.

Schedules of some Emirates flights at Dubai International airport were also briefly affected, a spokesman for the airlines said.

According to the national weather bureau, there is also a chance of fog on Tuesday morning, in some western areas.

In Sweihan on Monday visibility was reduced to 50 metres.

Brig Al Khaili urged motorists using external roads in areas affected by thick fog to be cautious, reduce speed, and leave a safe distance between them and the car in front.

He also asked drivers to dim their headlights and refrain from overtaking in these problem areas, which include the Abu Dhabi-Dubai Road, Al Ain-Abu Dhabi Road, Abu Dhabi-Ghuweifat Road, and Al Ain-Dubai Road.

Tuesday’s weather leading into Wednesday will be mostly clear, but hazy at times, the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology said. Winds will be light to moderate, and relative humidity was expected to increase on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning over some coastal and internal areas. Conditions at sea will be moderate to rough in the Arabian Gulf, and slight to moderate in the Oman Sea.