The number of vehicles in Abu Dhabi has increased by almost 700 per cent in the past five years, contributing to more delays on the capital’s roads. But officials say the city’s road network can handle the situation. “The network of roads in Abu Dhabi can bear the load of the increasing number of vehicles,” said Major Jamal Al Amiri, head of the Public Relations and Safety Department at the Traffic Police.
“We have no congestion and traffic jams. There are only bottlenecks at some locations due to construction works.” At the beginning of 2001, the number of small vehicles (including taxis and small vans) registered with the Abu Dhabi Traffic Police Department was 27,338. On January 15, 2006, it stood at 212,686 – a rise of almost 678 per cent, according to statistics provided by the Abu Dhabi Police Directorate.
Officials said private cars constitute 70 per cent of the new vehicles and the reason behind the increase could be the flexibility in issuing driving licenses. In the past three years, the Licensing Department issued an estimated 24,000 driving licenses, a large rise over the number issued in the early 1990s. The total number of vehicles of all the roads in Abu Dhabi has risen from 31,472 in 2001 to 237,891 by January 15, 2006.
An official at the Abu Dhabi Automobile Association said there has to be some kind of control in the number of new vehicles registered. At the very least, old vehicles should be phased out and their registration cancelled to ease the traffic problems, he said.
The capital is already facing a severe shortage in parking space. The traffic police says parking is the responsibility of Abu Dhabi Municipality and Town Planning Department, and the municipality says the problem is being dealt with. There are plans to build 15 underground car parks in the capital, while about six are already operational.
However, car owners have been complaining of the high charges of Dh2 per hour and Dh15 per day for parking. They said because of high charges half of the spaces in these car parks remain unutilized.
Al Amiri of the traffic police said despite the increase in the number of vehicles on the roads, the efforts by the police are bearing results. “Compared to 2004, we had less accidents in 2005, the number of accident has fallen from 1,567 to 1,359 –13 per cent decrease. We hope to bring it down further. In 2004, 26 accidents were due to speeding. The number fell to 15 last year. This is encouraging.”
