‘6-8 minutes’: Dubai project to reduce accident response time on more key roads – News

A project that has reduced the time needed to resolve accidents on Dubai roads to just eight minutes is to be expanded to include more streets. The collaborative project between the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Dubai Police also reduced the time it takes police to respond to accidents to just six minutes.

The Traffic Incident Management Unit (TIMU) project will be expanded to include four additional major road corridors by the end of this year. This will increase the number of streets covered by the project from 13 to 17 and will cover 951 kilometers.

The unit attended 22,341 traffic incidents from November 2022 to January 2024, including more than 9,000 vehicle towing operations. The injury rate in hallways managed by the unit was reduced by 6.5 percent and deaths were reduced by 5 percent.

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Project Scope

TIMU addresses vehicle breakdowns, quickly manages accident scenarios and restores normal traffic flow after an accident. According to Mattar Al Tayer, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Directors of RTA, the unit has certain objectives to achieve.

Mattar Al Tayer

“Specific locations have been designated for the deployment of rapid response vehicles on major highways and critical roads to ensure their rapid arrival at accident sites, aiming for a response time of 10 minutes and a dispatch time of 15 minutes.” minutes,” he said. “The scope of the project also covers the implementation of temporary traffic diversions in surrounding areas, assisting motorists and providing traffic management support during events.”

Since the beginning of this year, six key corridors and streets have been added to the project. The expansion included:

Later this year, four additional main corridors will be added, including Ras Al Khor, Umm Suqeim, Expo Road and Hessa streets. This will bring the total to 17 corridors, streets and highways with an extension of 951 km in both directions.

Benefits for road users

According to Al Tayer, the project has benefited road users in several ways. “It contributed to their safety and saved time by minimizing delays related to traffic accidents,” he said. “Achievements include a response rate of approximately 6 minutes and an average vehicle dispatch time of 8 minutes.”

The project is considered a key factor in improving the integration of road and transport networks and has resulted in an average travel time of 10.2 minutes according to the TomTom index, which measures the time taken to travel a distance of 10 km in the central business district. (CBD).

Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, said a lot of research has been done to make the project a success. “Since the start of the project in 2018 and throughout the initial phase, Dubai Police has carried out thorough investigations into serious and injury-related incidents, enforced traffic laws and offered legal assistance to the management unit. of incidents, in addition to monitoring traffic cameras and executing rescue operations for incidents involving “In addition, Dubai Police carried out studies to improve the management of traffic incidents across the emirate and prepared a guide aimed at improving the management of such incidents”.

Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri

According to him, the initial phases of the project yielded excellent results that improved the speed of security responses and reduced traffic congestion.

“The traffic incident management project aims to shorten the resolution time of minor incidents by 35 percent, reduce congestion and related expenses by 25 percent and decrease the frequency of secondary incidents,” explained Lt. Gen. Abdullah. Khalifa Al Marri.

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