DUBAI BUS CRASH – JUNE 6, 2019

An unfortunate bus accident occurred, when a bus crashed into a Dubai road sign, which the driver did not see
because of his makeshift sun shield, killed 17 people and severely injured 13 others who were returning to Dubai
from an Eid break in Oman on Thursday, June – 6, 2019.

According to the official report from the authorities, the Muscat-to-Dubai Mwasalat bus service carrying 31
passengers struck an overhead height barrier at a speed of 94 km/h, on June 6 at the turn off from Mohammad Bin
Zayed Road leading onto Rashidiya Road, where the speed limit was 40 kmph and it was due to make a scheduled
stop at Rashidiya Metro. The driver took a wrong left turn, instead of right, into a section not designated for buses.

Initial investigations revealed that the driver, in his fifties, who took the lane which was not designated for buses
failed to spot several warning signs, a road bump and a height restriction chain, which alerts drivers that their
vehicle exceeds the permitted height. Eventually seeing the maximum-height sign protruding over the road, the
driver swerved to avoid crashing into it, causing the sign to cut through the roof of the left side of the bus.
The further investigation carried out under the aegis of the defense lawyers (by an independent expert to analyze
the scene, since an appeal that a request to appoint an expert to examine the crash site had earlier been dismissed
by the Dubai Traffic Court) stated that there were several obvious errors that led to the crash, like, the distance
between the warning signboard and the height barrier was only 12 meters and it should’ve been a minimum of 48
meters as per the standards and even the barrier should have been made of a different material that would break
into pieces if an impact happened to warn violating cars without causing death and injury.
The driver, who was charged of causing the wrongful death of 17 passengers and injuring 13 others, was sentenced
to seven years in jail and was ordered to pay AED 3.4 million in blood money to the families of the victims by Dubai
Traffic Court in July.
Considering the above case, either if the unsafe act (over speeding and taking the wrong route) or unsafe
conditions (positioning of the height barrier and warning signage) were eliminated, it wouldn’t have resulted in
such a catastrophe.

Source: Internet