UAE: Regulator working on telematics to promote road safety
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Oct 2019
The UAE Insurance Authority (IA) is working to apply a vehicle technology system to monitor the behaviour of drivers and to guide them so as to avoid traffic violations.
Mr Ebrahim Obaid Al Zaabi, director general of the IA, said this followed a presentation to the Government Accelerator Initiative proposing the adoption of the best international applications, such as telematics, to reduce the number of traffic accidents and road deaths.
Mr Al Zaabi added that the implementation of the initiative will be through cooperation with some strategic partners from government agencies such as the Ministries of Interior and Economy, the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology, the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai and the Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi, etc, as well as insurers.
The Authority has conducted extensive studies on best practices and modern international applications, he said. The results of the studies showed that the adoption of telematics has led to a decrease of 50% in the number of accidents in some countries.
Mr Al Zaabi pointed out that the implementation of the initiative will be through several stages, including laying down the database infrastructure. Telematics will be applied first for transport vehicles in the pilot phase and then on to taxis and fleets of commercial vehicles and rental cars and private cars. M