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7/3/25, 10:19 AM What can be done to solve UAE traffic congestion? | The National
What can be done to solve UAE traffic congestion?

Range of measures could prove effective, with analysts favouring 'carrot and stick' approach to motorists

Daniel Bardsley
July 02, 2025

A new survey has confirmed what many motorists in the UAE know all too well – traffic congestion is a
major headache for anyone travelling by road.

The research, based on canvassing 1,021 people in the country, found 86 per cent of motorists

“typically experience traffic congestion”.

Moreover, the problem may be intensifying, because four fifths of respondents in the RoadSafety UAE
and Al Wathba Insurance study said they have noticed heavier traffic congestion year-on-year.

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It comes amid a population surge in the Emirates, with Abu Dhabi now being home to 4 million people
and Dubai closing in on the landmark figure.

Motorists cited several factors as causing the traffic jams, including too many vehicles on the roads,
offices and schools all starting at about the same time, heavy dependence on private cars and poor
driving that causes accidents.

Respondents also gave their views on what could solve the traffic woes, with the most popular ideas

being encouraging working from home, improving metro and train services, expanding the road
network and improving bus services.

Encouraging people to leave their car at home and take public transport is not easy, but a “carrot and
stick” approach has been shown to work elsewhere.

“The only way people will actually leave their cars is if you penalise them – you have congestion
charging, or regulated parking, or charge for parking,” said Marcus Enoch, professor in transport

strategy at Loughborough University in the UK and author of Roads not yet travelled: Transport futures
for 2050.

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