Worried about your taxi driver taking a snooze on Sheikh Zayed Road? This could reassure you…

Taxis are already one of the most practical and efficient modes of transport in Dubai.

Now the Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) is taking steps to make the service even sharper by making sure drivers remain alert on the job.

How? Well, Dr Yousef Al Ali, the CEO of DTC, has announced the corporation will be implementing a new monitoring system into Dubai taxis.

“The DTC is intending to launch a driver monitoring system via on board cameras to spot events of declining attentiveness or sudden sleeping of taxi drivers to avoid potential accidents,” Al Ali said.

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The CEO noted the improvement of the rate of traffic accidents involving taxis in Dubai – it’s dropped from 0.61 accidents per 100,000km in 2009 to 0.23 in 2016.

This achievement is said to place Dubai’s taxi safety rating on par with Singapore, considered one of the safest countries in terms of transport, with 0.2 taxi accidents per 100,000km.

The new monitoring system is in line with similar measures recently introduced to reduce traffic accidents such as the “Brake Plus System”, which is a four-way flasher system designed to prevent rear side collisions.

All DTC taxis also have a 120kmh speed cap on highways.

The DTC says it will continue to analyse the causes of accidents around Dubai and apply preventative measures to counter them.

Do you feel safe in Dubai taxis?

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Words: Alexander Briggs. Image: Getty