Police unveil plan for city where children can drive

Monday, 15 March 2010 7:36 AM

DRIVING PLAN: Children as young as five will be able to drive electric cars in Traffic City to teach them proper road skills. (Getty Images - for illustrative purposes only)

In a bid to teach good driving skills from an early age, Abu Dhabi Police on Sunday unveiled Traffic City – a police-monitored town where children as young as five can drive cars on real roads.

The project, revealed on the first day of GCC Traffic Week, reported in the National on Monday, is set to cost AED150m ($49m).

One section of the city will be set aside for children aged five to 12 to drive electric cars that reach speeds of 15km per hr.

In another section, children aged 13-17 will be able to drive petrol cars that go up to 20km per hr. Police officers will be able to monitor both sections by CCTV cameras.

According to the report, all roads will have real traffic lights, roundabouts and overpasses as well as rain and fog simulators.

“This will teach drivers to commit to the rules at a young age. They will learn to wear seat belts and listen to police instructions since they are children,” Major Ahmed al Niyadi, head of media and marketing for the Abu Dhabi traffic police, was reported as saying.

Construction on the project is set to begin next year and will take five years to complete, officials told the paper.

GCC road safety issues

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Posted by: Jabdib Tuesday, 16 March 2010 4:25 PM[UAE]

You should call it, sKid City ! Sure you're not trying to grow a generation of formula 1 race drivers ?

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Posted by: James Tuesday, 16 March 2010 3:29 PM[UAE] - U.A.E

Well here in Ras Al Khaimah, I've seen plenty of kids driving cars, all types including 4x4 S.U.V's!! A better idea is for citizens & residents of the GCC can only drive a 1.0 litre car until the age of 25, then a 1.4 litre from 25 till 32 years old. Then carry a similar scheme until they reach the age of 60 where they can drive any size/type/speed of vehicle. This would stop speeding, tailgating, wreckless driving and needless deaths all across the U.A.E. Possibly even punishing speeders by forcing them to drive say a tata nano for a year with a 3rd gear retriction. One other sugestion is to have a Microchip installed into their vehicle which limits the speed to the road based on GPS technology. Restriciting drivers to 5mph below the road limit. It would be safe and I could go about the country safely without ever worring about being killed.

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Posted by: Moussa Tawil Monday, 15 March 2010 7:05 PM[UAE]

mmm ... with Salik or without Salik?

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Posted by: EXPAT Monday, 15 March 2010 1:17 PM[UAE] - UAE

Good idea to teach them young, let's hope that their play play cars have got real indicators as they may not noticed these previously. Will the teaching also include teaching them the difference between the road where they can drive and the real road where they cannot drive?

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