UAE and Oman ramp-up truck safety efforts
RTA to test truck driver fitness; Omani crackdown on heavy loads
Royal Oman Police will have the authority to penalise truck operators
As the region’s efforts to increase truck and general road safety continue apace, both the UAE and Oman have announced new initiatives that will specifically target drivers and owners of heavy commercial vehicles.
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced truck drivers will soon have to prove they are medically fit to drive, as part of a federal law that is being implemented in Dubai in different phases, according to a report by Gulf News.
Under the new legislation, driving licences of truck drivers will not be renewed without a medical permit from September 15.
“We are now moving to the next phase, which will begin from September 15, where we will ensure all truck drivers pass the medical fitness test before they renew their driver’s licence,” said the chief executive of the RTA’s Licensing Agency, Ahmad Hashim Behroozian.
Meanwhile in Oman, the Government is planning on setting up a number of truck weighing stations at key locations along the country’s arterial road network in an effort to crack down on heavy vehicles that exceed axle load and weight limits, Oman Daily Observers has reported.
The plan envisages a mix of fixed and mobile weighing stations, also known as weighbridges, along key carriageways at risk of damage by trucks breaching load limits. The installations will be operated by the Royal Oman Police, who will have the authority to penalise truck operators found to be plying their vehicles in breach of load limits.
