Another day...

...another accident. A man died in an accident involving 3 other cars on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai (SZR) and his friend (the driver) is fighting for his life. SZR is the most dangerous road in Dubai: a recent survey showed that in the first 7 months of the year, 127 people were killed on the roads of Dubai (that's an average of 18 deaths a month), with 877 accidents overall. I do not have any comparative data, but that sounds huge to me!

In related news, Dubai's transport authority wants to introduce road tolls to reduce traffic congestion. Maybe this will help ease the traffic, but many other measures need to be implemented to help eradicate this problem:

1) Build more roads. In a city where a new building is erected every day, there should also be new roads being built every day. More buildings = more people = more cars = more roads. Logical, isn't it?

2) Implement tougher traffic laws: where are the cops? Why aren't they on the roads arresting dangerous drivers? Why aren't they revoking the licenses of repeat offenders?

3) Make it harder to get driver's licenses. I am not sure about this, but it seems like driver's licenses are handed out too easily to anyone who can turn the ignition of a car on.

4) Encourage carpooling, introduce a carpooling lane on highways...By encouraging people to share cars, this will cut down on the number of cars on the roads

5) Introduce a clean, safe, reliable public transport system. If there was a metro that took me straight to Media City, then I would gladly leave my car at home.

6) Change the road setup...One highway in the middle of the city is simply not smart....Highways should be built around cities, not in the middle of them!

7) Eliminate all those heavy duty trucks during rush hour. They really slow down traffic...I know they need to get around somehow, but maybe at least eliminate them during rush hour!

I can't think of anything else right now...Any other suggestions are welcome. Any thoughts?