Dubai has reported 51 per cent drop in parking of vehicles on pavements, revealed Road and Transport Authority (RTA).

Traffic and Roads Agency chief executive officer Engineer Maitha bin Adai hailed the positive response showed by the general public with the traffic awareness campaigns staged by the RTA.

She praised the active partnership with Jebel Ali Police Station under which the two campaigns of banning parking of vehicles on pavement were launched; the first in December last year and the second has just been concluded, RTA said in a statement.

Traffic Department at Traffic & Roads Agency and Jebel Ali Police Station teamed up to form a common awareness team to track down vehicles parked on pavement in most areas of Dubai during the first campaign.

Then the joint team revisited the same locations at the same timing and found out there was a drop in the number of offenders in the second campaign.

The second round revealed that the number of offending vehicles dropped to 1,047 from 2046 in the first round.

“I hope that the third campaign in April will witness greater commitment on the part of drivers, particularly those who failed to comply with the first round” said Maitha.

“They need to realize that the objective of these campaigns is to preserve the lives of road users, show commitment to defend their rights, and rights of others through optimizing the use of roads. By these recurrent traffic awareness campaigns we aim to bring about a positive impact and change in the lives of individuals” she added.

Maitha said the number of vehicles parked on pavements monitored in the two campaigns dropped from 35 vehicles in the Knowledge Village in the first round to 11 vehicles in the second round.

In Dubai Media City, the number of offending vehicles dropped from 16 to 9 only, whereas in Dubai Media City the reduction was from 37 to 19 vehicles.

In Jumeirah offending vehicles dropped from 191 to 62 vehicles only and in Al Safiya the number fell from 205 to just 83 vehicles, whereas in Al Muraqqabat the number fell from 72 to 58 vehicles.

Traffic Awareness Team registered 51 vehicles in breach of the ban in the second round of campaign at Al Maktoum Road compared to 98 vehicles reported in the first round, but the number of offending vehicles spotted in Al Baraha was 83 only whereas it was 243 vehicles in the first campaign, and in Gold Souk 14 vehicles in breach of the ban were spotted parked on the pavement during the second campaign and the number in the same area was 26 vehicles during the first campaign.

She said the drop in the number of vehicles which failed to comply with the ban was from 37 to 16 vehicles in Al Merer, 265 to 143 in Al Mateena, 250 to 83 in Hor Al Anz, 98 to 39 in Al Jaflia, 97 to 69 in Al Satwa, 55 to 30 in Al Refa’a, 10 to three in Al Diyafa, 90 to 70 in Al Bida’a, 60 to 38 in Al Wasl Colony, 68 to 36 in Abu Hail, 23 to 21 in Al Wuhaidah, and 70 to 42 in Al Hamriya.

Maitha called upon drivers who failed to respond to the two rounds of campaigns banning parking of vehicles on pavements to cease practicing the offensive behaviour; which takes from wrongdoers more than the benefits they anticipate.

Maitha said committing such offences is not only in breach of Driving & Traffic Rule, but also an infringement of the rights & freedom of people to walk peacefully on pavements without having to step on roads in areas not specified for pedestrians. – TradeArabia News Service