“Negligence caused 265 UAE traffic accidents in eight months”
Brigadier Ghaith Hassan Al Zaabi, director general of the Traffic Coordination Department said traffic accidents registered in the UAE have decreased by 10.7% for the period between January and August 2014. Only 3,170 accidents occurred in the duration, in comparison to the 3,549 accidents registered in the same duration last year. Mortality rate for the year […]
Brigadier Ghaith Hassan Al Zaabi, director general of the Traffic Coordination Department said traffic accidents registered in the UAE have decreased by 10.7% for the period between January and August 2014.
Only 3,170 accidents occurred in the duration, in comparison to the 3,549 accidents registered in the same duration last year. Mortality rate for the year has also reduced by 0.2% vis-à-vis the rate for 2013, according to the Traffic Coordination Department at the UAE’s Ministry of Interior.
“According to the indicators and due to the decrease of road accidents, the death rate of accidents has slightly decreased over the first eight months of this year with 463 deaths, as compared to 464 deaths in the same period last year,” Al Zaabi revealed.
Sudden lane changes were found to cause the highest number of accidents in the UAE. In the first eight months of the year, 589 accidents occurred due to sudden lane changes, while 406 accidents were caused by misjudgment of road users.
“The third main cause of traffic accidents was due to the failure of road users to leave a sufficient amount of distance between vehicles, which caused 350 accidents,” Al Zaabi continued.
“Negligence and lack of attention is the fourth main cause, with a recorded number of 265 accidents. Speeding is the fifth main cause and led to 258 accidents.”
Injuries caused by road accidents have decreased by 7.4% in the first eight months of 2014. 4,602 injuries have been registered this year, as compared to 4,969 injuries during the same period in 2013.
Al Zaabi attributed road accident instances to the increasing population and development rates in the country.
“All types of road accidents, together with their subsequent injuries, deaths, and traffic fines, are the natural result of the increasing use of vehicles across the UAE, which is closely linked to the growing population increase and urban development,” he said.
“Meanwhile, traffic departments across the country bear the major burden of training and testing thousands of people who wish to obtain their driving licenses, as this is one of the most important requirements of economic and social development.”
