First Day Of School In UAE: Staggered Drop-Offs, New Lanes Ease Traffic For Many

2026-08-31 09:18:41

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Several parents felt traffic was manageable on the first day back to school on Monday, largely due to staggered drop-off timings and school openings.

Mirdif resident Tayyaba Anwar said she was surprised to get very minimal traffic during her school drop-off ride to Khawaneej. "Usually my route has a lot of traffic because it is a school area," she said. "But today I got almost no traffic. I believe it's because a lot of public schools have staggered drop-off times. I wish there was a way to make this kind of staggered timing a permanent thing because it would be great for everyone."

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Over 1.2 million students went back to school on Monday after an almost two-month-long summer break. Dubai Police rolled out an extensive security, traffic and awareness plan to ensure students return safely to classrooms, with 28 drones monitoring traffic in key locations.

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Public sector employees were given flexibility in reporting to and leaving from work for up to three hours starting from Monday to help settle their children into school.

This is the third year that the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources has given this allowance to employees under the Flexible Work Policy. Those with children in nurseries or kindergarten will be allowed to work flexibly for their child's first week back.

Dubai-Sharjah traffic

For Emirati Mariam Ahmed, who drove to Dubai from Sharjah after dropping her son to nursery, the road was much smoother than expected.

"I usually take Emirates Road from Sharjah to Dubai and I get stuck at the bottleneck when entering the road from Sharjah," she said.

"Sometimes it takes me 20 minutes or more to clear that area. But today, I didn't encounter this issue. It is probably due to the opening of new lanes, which has contributed to an increased capacity for vehicles. The road was almost completely smooth along its entire length until reaching Dubai."

However, it was not so smooth flowing for everyone. Sharjah resident Eman Malik said it took her much longer than estimated. "During the summer, it took just over an hour to drop my daughters around the school area and then reach the office," she said. "On Monday, however, the commute time more than doubled to over two and a half hours because of the heavy traffic."

She added that the road and infrastructure development work underway in Sharjah, particularly on roads leading towards Dubai, seemed to have impacted the free flow. "This has contributed to the slow-moving traffic," she said. "Once these projects are completed in the next couple of months, I hope traffic flow will improve significantly."

Road Safety

Tayyaba added that she was impressed to see road safety being a priority for authorities. "I saw a huge yellow backpack in Mizhar that read 'Drive safe, the future of Dubai is in your car,'" she said. "I thought that was fairly smart and drove home remembering the importance of road safety."

The Ministry of Interior rolled out its annual 'Accident-Free Day' initiative on August 31, in coordination with all police forces across the country. Members of the public who sign the pledge stand a chance to remove up to four black points from their record by ensuring safety on the roads.

Thomas Edelman, founder of RoadSafetyUAE, reminded parents that they were role models for children on the roads. "Children mirror and follow the behaviour of their parents," he said.

"Hence, parents must show good organisational habits by starting drop-offs early, to eliminate stress levels for all involved. Parents must behave at their best in the vehicle interacting with other road users, especially around the schools."

First Day Of School In UAE: Staggered Drop-Offs, New Lanes Ease Traffic For Many

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