Click here for an overview of UAE’s road signs: http://www.roadsafetyuae.com/assets/uploads/2014/05/Road-Signs.pdf
Road signs provide visual information to help control and regulate the flow of traffic and help to keep you and other road users safe.
This is very important in the UAE, as:
- Road networks are becoming more complex
- Traffic volumes are increasing
- The number of visitors to Dubai who are unfamiliar with the roads is increasing each year.
Road signs are placed on, over or next to a public road where they:
- Fulfill an important need
- Command attention
- Provide a clear and simple message
- Provide sufficient time for road users to respond appropriately.
Every road user must respect the traffic regulations and standards, follow the signs, signals and instructions of the police officer and behave cautiously, so his conduct will not harm others, expose them to danger or block their movement .
Road signs provide information to road users in three ways:
- As a regulation or road law (which must be obeyed by law)
- As a warning
- As a guide
Regulatory signs regulatory signs are used to control the actions of road users. they tell you what you must or must not do. Failure to obey a sign is an offence.
The types of regulatory signs are:
- Control signs – show right of way priority or direction of travel
- Mandatory signs – indicate actions that must be taken
- Prohibitory signs – indicate prohibited actions or objects
- Parking control signs – regulate parking and stopping
- Freeway control signs – indicate roads classified as freeways.
You are breaking the law if you do not follow these signs. The only exception is when a police officer is directing traffic and he must be obeyed.
Click here for an overview of UAE’s road signs:
http://www.roadsafetyuae.com/assets/uploads/2014/05/Road-Signs.pdf
With the launch of Dubai Tram, we will witness a set of new road signs – refer to our Topic:
http://www.roadsafetyuae.com/dubai-tram/
RTA explains the NORTH – EAST -WEST – SOUTH (N.E.W.S) directions:
by Peter Scarlet
The reported increased efforts lately to communicate the importance of stopping at red lights should also make the point that STOP signs mean the same thing, and they aren’t there for decoration.
Also, here in Abu Dhabi, many STOP signs have been placed too far from the road and are outside the peripheral vision of drivers. They seem to be placed almost at random.
And while we’re on the topic of signs – road signs are all too often placed directly in front of other road signs – it’s almost comic. Workers charged with installing signs need to be instructed about WHERE to place them in relation to other signs.
To be effective, the placement of signs needs far more thought than this topic is currently getting. Witness the signs for highway turnoffs that are often to be found immediately AFTER the turnoff.
And the size of the lettering on many road signs seems to assume that drivers are equipped with binoculars.