Divider destroyed in highway accident

A speeding van crashed into a road divider on the highway between the airport island Hulhulé and the capital’s suburb Hulhumalé on Thursday morning.

The van was travelling from Malé when the accident occurred, police said. The plastic dividers were smashed into pieces, one of which went flying and hit a taxi travelling in the opposite direction.

In a separate accident in Malè, a housing ministry car collided with a motorcycle on the outer ring road of the capital.

The accident occurred because the motorbike switched on to the four-wheeler lane without warning, police said. The 24-year-old woman on the motorbike had been driving with an expired license.

The front buffer of the car was slightly dented but no other damage was done to the car or the motorcycle.

No one was harmed in either accident.

As part of measures to handle traffic congestion during Ramadan, police announced Wednesday that four-wheeled vehicles would only be allowed to travel one-way on the capital’s main thoroughfare Majeedhee Magu between 8am and 2pm during the fasting month.

Since the start of Ramadan this week, four-wheelers have also been restricted from entering the market area between 12:30pm to 6:30pm and traffic police have been patrolling areas identified as traffic hotspots.

According to weekly traffic statistics shared by the police, there were 67 road accidents in Malé during the past week, which caused injuries to 16 people.