Road-service patrols unclog more roads

Abu Dhabi has an average response time of nine minutes for minor accidents and vehicle breakdown, the Department of Transport said on Monday.

ABU DHABI // The Department of Transport’s road-service patrol answered an average of 2,000 calls for help a month last year – a 35 per cent rise on the year before.

And the Traffic Management Centre achieved this with an average response time of 9 minutes, helping to quickly unclog the emirate’s roads after minor accidents and vehicle breakdowns.

The efficient response improved road safety, the department said.

“The TMC has recorded a 20 per cent increase in the number of notifications sent to the department’s road-service patrol during the past two years,” a DoT official said.

“The TMC has recorded a 35 per cent increase in the active traffic management activities that deal with traffic congestion in 2013, thus minimising the impact of incidents on the flow of traffic.”

The centre has set a maximum response time of 15 minutes for most minor accidents and breakdowns, the official said.

Glenn Havinoviski, an associate vice president of transport systems at the US traffic-management company Iteris, praised the work of the patrols.

“If you get the incident scene cleared more quickly you are reducing the number of secondary accidents and that saves lives, time and money,” Mr Havinoviski said.

Incident management in Abu Dhabi has improved, resulting in smoother flow of traffic and fewer injuries, deaths and secondary collisions, he said.

The TMC monitors traffic flows, operation of the central traffic control system and offers road-service support patrols to prevent congestion.

“I think that the police are doing a very good job in managing incidents, while the department certainly has a role in terms of managing the road network in general during an incident,” Mr Havinoviski said.

“We see a reduction on traffic delay, reduction in injuries and secondary collisions, and a possible reduction on fatalities when you’re able to get the emergency vehicles out there faster.”

The TMC manages all the traffic signals in Abu Dhabi through its team of traffic signal operators, supervisors and engineers. It also serves as a centre for intelligent transport systems that include traffic-counting stations recording the volume and speed of vehicles, and a system calculating average journey times using cameras that cover the entire city.

In March this year, the department announced a Dh33 million project to ensure better management of the road network and reduce congestion.

A central traffic-control system will be installed with sensors counting vehicles at traffic lights to improve traffic flow at the capital’s 125 main junctions.

Work on the project began in January and is expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year.

The TMC also assists in traffic management during the Formula One Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi Triathlon, Abu Dhabi Golf Tournament and Qasr Al Hosn Festival, said Hamad Al Afeefi, acting director at the department’s traffic management and technology division.

In coordination with the police and the municipality, its role includes modifying traffic signal times, managing and sending road service and recovery patrols, and communicating traffic information through the m-Darb application and Twitter.