Sometimes it is the unglamorous initiatives that pay the biggest dividends. It is unlikely that Abu Dhabi Municipality's decision to build five new motorway rest areas will set many pulses racing, but it is exactly the kind of project that will improve road safety in the UAE.
The first of the rest areas will be located on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai motorway near Ghantoot, an area identified as having insufficient services but also notorious for dense fog at this time of year. It was the site of the “fog Tuesday” crash of 2008, in which four people died and another 350 were injured in a 200-vehicle pile up.
With the completion of the Ghantoot rest area, there will an added incentive for drivers to pull over and enjoy a break until road conditions improve. Another of the five rest areas will be sited on the E75 Truck Road that parallels the Abu Dhabi-Dubai motorway – a simple yet effective measure that will ensure truck drivers who face long days and difficult loads will have a place to stop. It is these kind of initiatives that make our roads safer to use, as well as leading to a change in mindset.
If the rest areas have sufficient facilities (please, none of the sparse dreariness that often characterises those found in parts of Europe), it will make people stop off and rest on the road between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, rather than making a straight emirate to emirate dash.
