MANAMA, 21 April 2005 — If you hear the siren and see the flashing lights in your rear-view mirror while driving on one of Bahrain’s busy highways do not be alarmed, because you might just get away with a warning thanks to a new approach being adopted by the General Directorate of Traffic (GDT).
Drivers still get ticketed for serious offenses, but a top officer at the GDT said yesterday while they maintain their strict approach they are more concerned with raising awareness among drivers than issuing tickets, with the system — which went into effect three months ago — proving to be a success.
According to the head of traffic monitoring at the GDT, Maj. Sheikh Abdulrahman ibn Sobah Al-Khalifa, the directorate trained more than 50 traffic policemen to be part of the “highway patrol”, which monitors highways alone alongside regular traffic units.
“The number of serious accidents had dropped on the main highways since the new units began operating,” he said. “The units conducted more than 1,500 traffic stops where they only warned drivers and raised awareness among them about the violation they committed without issuing a ticket”.
The units did issue tickets for serious offenses to drivers, including 515 for failing to wear seatbelts, 262 for illegal lane change and 14 for driving without a license.
They issued 18 tickets for having children under the age of 10 in the front seat and 89 tickets for running red lights at intersections monitored by cameras.
Heavy trucks were also stopped and ticketed by the units that issued 262 tickets for transporting material without cover, 206 tickets for failing to have proper tires, 23 tickets for operating the vehicle during rush hour, and 18 violations for excess weight.
Sheikh Abdulrahman said: “The units proved to be successful and we will equip them with radars, cameras and signs that would enable the policemen to communicate directly with the drivers behind them by flashing messages to them.”
He added that the new units — which will have a 100 percent coverage of all of Bahrain’s highways by next week — had also been involved in backing up rescue and investigation squads on the scenes of accidents.
“In addition to their training in traffic law they had received special training on how to secure scenes of accidents to allow rescuers and investigators to operate while maintaining traffic flow,” he said.
The new units have their squad cars painted in red and white, with policemen wearing reflective jackets on top of their uniforms at all times.
The new approach is believed to be a direct result of the new “community policing” strategy that the Ministry of Interior had adopted and aims to cooperate with the community to combat crime and reshape the ministry’s image with the public.
