The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced the start of an elective installation of remote monitoring systems for heavy vehicles from 1st February to 31st July, 2017.

The mandatory phase of the monitoring system will start on 1st August upon the annual renewal of registration of trucks exceeding 20 years. The move is in line with the smart city initiative and the strategic plan of the UAE and  Dubai that aim at improving traffic safety through reducing accidents of heavy trucks, increasing road safety and security, and monitoring drivers’ attitudes.

Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan, CEO of RTA’s Licensing Agency said, “From Feb 1st to July 31st 2017, the service would be offered electively to transportation companies, which can avail it with a 15 per cent discount on fees during the period from Feb 1st to April 30th 2017, and a 6 per cent discount from May 1st to the end of July 2017. The mandatory phase would start on August 1st 2017. Trucks would be subject to remote monitoring through the Smart Monitoring Center of the Licensing Agency. Technical inspectors at the Center would be able to communicate with road patrols of the Dubai Police and RTA to enforce the law against violating vehicles.”

“This technology conforms to the requirements of the smart city initiative that aim at improving the safety of vehicles and traffic and curbing accidents and fatalities through enhancing the monitoring regime, improving environmental sustainability of transport and offering new government services. Such services have to be enabled via smart devices configured with electronic systems and linked with the smart monitoring center of RTA. At the end of the day, the technology will up the compliance with applicable rules and regulations.”

“The RTA is keen on offering the best solutions towards enhancing the traffic awareness level and applying smart technologies in various fields including the smart monitoring of heavy vehicles. The purpose of such monitoring is to ensure the soundness of vehicles, verify the compliance of drivers with the traffic rules, improve the traffic safety and road security, minimize accidents resulting from malpractices of drivers, and curb the negative impacts of faults sustained by heavy vehicles as well as misconducts on the part of drivers. Such a monitoring system can be achieved thanks to remote monitoring devices to be installed in trucks and linked with smart technological systems and apps. The deliverables obtained from these systems enable us to retrieve and analyze information about vehicle faults and track them in accordance with the highest international practices,” explained Bahrozyan.

“The objective of the technology is to rate the risks of vehicles, drivers and transportation companies, besides easing the burden on compliant parties and applying a more rigorous approach to defaulters. It will also reduce the frequency of stopping compliant vehicles on roads for site inspection according to the risk rating given based on information generated by technical inspection and vehicles safety system. The technology has a feature for monitoring the number of driving hours and attitudes of heavy vehicle drivers (reckless driving, sudden braking, dangerous acceleration, over speeding, traffic accidents and driving during prohibited timing or places).

“In the event of non-compliance with the system, the RTA would be obliged not to register or renew the registration of the vehicle until it is fitted with the system. It would implement the Federal Traffic Law by abolishing the registration of the vehicle for failure to renew registration. The service targets all heavy vehicles licensed in Dubai Emirate and the implementation phase comprises three phases.

The results of the initial phase would be shared with the Federal Traffic Council for considering the implementation of the system across the nation. A single phone number (600560005) has been designated for serving customers and responding to their queries in Arabic and English languages,” added the CEO of RTA Licensing Agency.