RTA adopts hi-tech solutions to monitor faults in heavy vehicles

DUBAI / WAM

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is set to launch a project for eliminating faults in heavy vehicles, in line with the national strategy aimed at improving road safety and security and curbing accidents triggered by heavy vehicles. The project will curtail the negative impacts of faults sustained by heavy vehicles, and fend off the erratic driving attitudes of some drivers.
“RTA is in constant pursuit of advanced solutions to improve the traffic awareness and road safety levels involving the exploration of smart projects and systems. In this regard, we have embarked on developing an integrated system and technological applications enabling us to monitor and analyse data pertaining to faults sustained by heavy vehicles. The procedure is in line with the assessment of risks of vehicles, drivers and operators at world-class standards, and the project we launched this year for eliminating faults of heavy vehicles,” said Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of RTA’s Licensing Agency.
“The Vehicle Defect Clearing System (VDCS) is a service intended to improve the monitoring of heavy vehicles in Dubai through fitting them with mandatory Telematics in order to track their defects and monitor driver attitudes. RTA is in the final stages of setting up a smart monitoring center fitted with display monitors and sophisticated technological systems linked with the monitoring devices fixed on heavy vehicles, enabling the concerned parties in the centre to communicate with RTA’s road patrols to identify violating vehicles.
“The aim of the project is to curb accidents of heavy vehicles, and strengthen the infrastructure of the Dubai emirate in particular, and the UAE in general, which in turn would minimise the financial, human and environmental impacts caused by heavy trucks. It also classifies the risks of drivers, vehicles, and operators through a process for calculating the risk of a driver, vehicle or operator failing to comply with RTA’s standards,” explained Bahrozyan.
“RTA implements Operators and Vehicles Risks Rating mechanism aimed at alleviating the burden on operators and drivers who are compliant with policies, and applying a rigorous monitoring of non-compliant drivers and operators through calculating vehicles risks rating using the data provided by the road technical inspections, remote detection of faults and the annual technical inspection. Whenever a vehicle is inspected with no faults detected, it would be treated as compliant with the safety standards and awarded a rating of zero in every inspection where no faults are detected. Each inspection carried out to the vehicle would be considered as a single inspection and a point would be assigned in respect of each fault or offence, based on the gravity and detected faults. All points would be listed, a final rating out of ten would be assigned, and colour coding would be made: Green, Yellow and Red,” he noted.