A Control Device May Soon Be Tracking Young UAE Drivers

Did you know? In the UAE, forty-five percent of road accidents involve drivers aged between 18 to 30 years old.

Which is why recent discussions at The Federal Traffic Council at the Ministry of Interior have focused on the possibility of installing a 'control device' on the vehicles of youngsters.

The 'black box' monitoring device would be installed for the first two years after acquiring their driving licence, during which it would record data of an individual's driving behaviour

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Following their sixth meeting of the year, the council has recommended that the plan be reviewed by the ministry's youth council.

Plans to make the device mandatory for drivers aged 18-21 years old have been backed by experts, including P.M. Abdul Razak, operations manager at Emirates Driving Institute.

He told Khaleej Times, "There are monitoring devices (GPS tracker etc.) which can alert and register the driving errors, such as sudden swerving, speeding, not maintaining safe distance between cars and a hard brake.

"If a control device can address the common mistakes the youngsters commit, it will save lives, money, time, and give their parents peace of mind."

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Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE, underlined: "Technology which can monitor the driving behaviour can play a vital role, especially telematics solutions (also called black boxes or control devices). It is vital to establish proper rules and control these rules stringently."

There is yet to be any confirmation whether this plan will go ahead, but any step taken by officials to help reduce the number of road accidents in the country is surely a welcome one.