All Taxis In Dubai Now Fitted With Surveillance Cameras

It truly is one of the world’s most widely visited and popular cities. The rich and prosperous live here and the aspirational throng to this lively city every now and again. It’s the beating heart of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. It’s as fashionable as it is appealing and is in a way a booming centre for trade and many a pursuit of life. And now it appears that Dubai is on its way toward upping the ante of surveillance.

This is down to the reason that one latest development has catapulted it to the eyes of those who are constantly in favor of making cities more safer than ever, siding with surveillance in an age where it could be said none of us are at distance from prying eyes.

It appears that the taxis in Dubai are now fitted with surveillance cameras, something that wasn’t a reality in the recent past. And what’s more? It’s not that a handful of taxi fleets have this new-age system fitted in. All taxis in Dubai are now geared with a fully functional surveillance camera.

The major development comes at the behest of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority that decided to go ahead with what can only be described as a big step but one that’s been executed to note the behavior of the taxi drivers.

But it’s believed that there’s a sound logic as to why the taxis in Dubai are now fitted with the surveillance cameras. The effort is taken to take cognizance of violence or instances of distressing behavior that the drivers may often be a party to, putting the travelers or locals in a spot.

Implicit in this important step to up the ante of security in the famous city is the functionality of the cameras. It is reported that soon as a traveler or taxi rider steps into a vehicle, the cameras begin to operate thanks to automatic sensors.

When recently contacted about further details about the taxis in Dubai in the light of this important development, the authorities furnished some important details:

“Security cameras have been installed in 10,684 taxis comprising the entire taxi fleet in Dubai. The move aims to ensure the compliance of taxi drivers with the ethical and professional principles of their business.

It also prompts them to stick to exemplary attitudes when dealing with taxi riders,” said Khaled Al Awadi, Director of Transportation Systems at RTA’s Public Transport Agency.

“The installation of the system started in August 2017 and continued over phases until the entire fleet of Dubai Taxi had been covered. RTA is keen on introducing state-of-the-art facilities for the comfort, security and satisfaction of clients, which ranks high on RTA”s priorities,” he added.

Importantly, the step, the authorities confirmed, is also a part of the Smart City initiative of the Dubai government. It also then contributes importantly to the RTA’s Strategic Goal of the “People Happiness” project, something that the city of Dubai wishes to achieve.

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It’s believed that as many as 10,600 and more taxis in Dubai are fitted with surveillance cameras.

But it ought to be asked whether other prominent cities in the UAE would also want to follow Dubai’s examples sometime in the future?