Abu Dhabi Police are preparing to introduce minimum speed limits on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Road, with the first and second lanes on the left-hand side of the road having a minimum speed of 120kph, while the maximum speed limit will remain at 140kph.
Drivers who fall below the minimum speed of 120kph on the first two lanes of the four-lane highway linking Abu Dhabi and Dubai will be fined AED 400. According to General Ahmed Saif bin Zaytoun Al Muhairi, director of Central Operations Sector at Abu Dhabi Police, the new rule is designed to improve road safety and ensure smoother traffic flow on the busy highway.
Abu Dhabi Police made the announcement on their social media channels on Thursday afternoon. “The goal of the low-speed activation is to ensure the safety of drivers, to require slow vehicles to move on the right lanes and to always make way for vehicles with preference coming from behind or from the left,” Gen Al Muhairi said. The third lane with a speed of 140kph and the last lane for use by heavy vehicles will not include minimum speed violations, police confirmed.
The new rules come into effect from April and the application of fines will be enforced from May 1. The Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Road, named in honour of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makroum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, opened in November 2016. The 62-kilometre motorway, built at a cost of AED 2.1B, shares traffic with Sheikh Zayed Road to ease congestion between the two cities.
The motorway begins where Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road ends in Seih Shuaib, on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi border, and has a capacity for 8,000 vehicles an hour with four lanes in each direction. It passes through the green belt at Al Maha forest, Khalifa Port Industrial Zone and Bida Khalifa.
The road intersects with Al Ajban Road and bypasses Shahama, Zayed Military Camp and Al Falah, all the way to the Sweihan Road interchange. It also directly links to Yas Island, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi airport and Al Ain Road.
