Skip to main content

New technologies to aid drivers in poor visibility

Abu Dhabi traffic police are to introduce an electronic weather system to alert motorists of fog, rain, and visibility problems ahead. Dense fog is a major problem for motorists across the country in the winter months. Heavy dust storms in summer also affect visibility. The system uses the latest technology and combines the tracking systems, patrols distribution information, traffic accident analysis system, and smart traffic awareness system of the Smart Traffic System Centre at the Abu Dhabi Police and T
March 7, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Abu Dhabi traffic police are to introduce an electronic weather system to alert motorists of fog, rain, and visibility problems ahead.  Dense fog is a major problem for motorists across the country in the winter months. Heavy dust storms in summer also affect visibility.

The system uses the latest technology and combines the tracking systems, patrols distribution information, traffic accident analysis system, and smart traffic awareness system of the Smart Traffic System Centre at the Abu Dhabi Police and Traffic Directorate (STSC) with variable message signs (VMS).

Brigadier Engineer Hussain Ahmad Al Harthi, director of Abu Dhabi Police Traffic and Patrols Directorate, said the STSC will work with weather sensors to receive reports from the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS).

“The STSC will help us determine the number of patrol cars to be dispatched and distributed accordingly across the capital. Meanwhile, VMS will broadcast to drivers the new temporary speed limits for this period of time,” he said.

He said that the new system will also help the police to react quickly to accidents and incidents that may follow to prevent pile-ups on the roads.

Al Harthi said that the Directorate has launched some twenty traffic programmes in recent months in a bid to raise public awareness on road safety. The initiatives aim to increase public education on issues such as the importance of wearing seat belts, reducing speeds, respecting pedestrians, maintaining safe distances between vehicles among other concerns.

Related Content

  • Michigan fosters real-world testing of workzone ITS
    September 19, 2017
    Turning a ‘problem’ into ‘an opportunity’ is the mantra of just about every business book and Michigan Department of Transportation (MDoT) looks set to achieve that aim in Oakland County, where 29km (18 miles) of the I-75 needs to be reconstructed. Running north-northwest from Detroit, the I-75 carries around 170,000 vehicles per day but, being built in the 1970s, it now requires an additional lane in each direction and upgrading to the latest design and safety standards. Upgrading will be carried out in
  • Asecap Days 2025: 'Vision Zero is not a number, it’s about a culture'
    May 29, 2025
    Saving lives and saving road infrastructure were two of the topics at the second and last day of the annual conference of Asecap, the European road tolling association, in Spanish capital Madrid
  • ARTBA president: what happened to the hoverboards?
    October 28, 2019
    What keeps Dave Bauer up at night? David Arminas caught up with the head of ARTBA at his Washington, DC office during daylight hours Dave Bauer doesn’t really have many sleepless nights. He might sleep, though, with one eye open, just in case. “We have become a much more divided country politically,” says Bauer, president of ARTBA – American Road and Transportation Builders Association. “Whether you are thinking about federal government, or state or local government, there’s a hostility now in our politi
  • Cognitive Technologies to develop autonomous tram in Russia
    February 14, 2019
    Cognitive Technologies has joined forces with Russian manufacturer PC Transport Systems to deploy an autonomous tram on the streets of Moscow by 2022. Cognitive says that its simplified system means autonomous trams will appear on public roads much earlier than self-driving cars. The company claims its system will detect vehicle and other trams, traffic lights, pedestrians, tram and bus stops, railway and switches and obstacles. Also, the technology will allow the tram to stop in front of obstacles a