Abu Dhabi jaywalking deaths fall by 14 per cent

ABU DHABI // Accidents where pedestrians have been run over have dropped by 14 per cent in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi Police Traffic and Patrol Directorate said the drop came in figures recorded last year compared with 2011. The decrease was attributed to traffic officers' campaigns to raise awareness about using pedestrian crossings, as well as drivers' increased observance of speed limits and their yielding right of way to pedestrians at crossings.

Colonel Hamad Mubarak bin Atheith Al Ameri, head of the Traffic Department, said the department will step up enforcement of the law that protects pedestrians at crossings from speeding drivers.

Last year, 3,588 tickets were issued for failure to give way to pedestrians at crossings, 983 for stopping over them and 42,806 for jaywalking.