ABU DHABI // Five years since the road tragedy that claimed the lives of three young sisters, traffic fatalities have declined.
But effective education and driver training, more visible enforcement and mandatory child car seats are still needed, experts say.
The deaths of the three children, Shaikha Salem Al Mansouri, 4, and her sisters Damayer, 6, and Mariam, 7, on June 29, 2009 directly sparked The National’s Road to Safety campaign to make the UAE’s roads safer.
The most recent figures in Abu Dhabi show that traffic fatalities decreased by 27 per cent in May compared to April, from 22 to 16. There were 145 accidents, a 5 per cent drop from 153, traffic police records show.
There were 63 traffic-related deaths in the first three months of this year, compared with 88 in the same period last year. Of the those, 33 were caused by collisions, 22 were pedestrians and eight people died after the cars they were travelling in rolled over.
Eighty-eight people died in just over 1,000 accidents on Dubai's roads in the first five months of the year.
Most car crashes were caused by sudden swerving, the most common traffic offence, accounting for 238 accidents and 31 deaths, and tailgating, which caused 214 accidents resulting in 12 deaths.
In the UAE the number of traffic-related deaths in the first three months of this year was 181, compared with 192 in the same period last year – a drop of 6.3 per cent, Ministry of Interior statistics show.
Brig Gen Ghaith Al Zaabi, director general of traffic coordination at the Ministry of Interior, said the decrease resulted from the efficiency of the ministry’s strategy to enhance road safety.
Meanwhile road deaths in the capital have declined by 30 per cent - to 289 from 409 - in the past five years.
Serious injuries fell from 483 to 366, and pedestrian fatalities decreased by 60 per cent, from 118 to 48.
“The overall death rate in the roads of Abu Dhabi has gone down, as we know,” said Glenn Havinoviski, a transport expert in Abu Dhabi.
“There seems to be much more enforcement of speeds through the use of speed cameras than ever before, and there is much less of a grace interval when you are travelling as it is 20kph rather than 40kph.”
By the end of the year Abu Dhabi's main roads will have point-to-point radar systems that calculate the average speed of a vehicle between two fixed points, Dr Atef Garib, a roads and traffic expert at Abu Dhabi Police, said in March.
The new system will catch speeding drivers who slow down as they pass the existing fixed-radar cameras.
Dr Garib said traffic police were working on closer integration of the different strands of their approach to road safety.
The focus will be a balanced strategy which deals with physical or face-to-face enforcement and automated enforcement.
There are three systems for automated enforcement: fixed radar cameras, infrared cameras at traffic junctions and on mobile radar cameras, and radar guns.
During the first quarter of the year, 185 radar speed cameras were installed across Abu Dhabi, and 1,469 vehicles were impounded after being caught travelling at 200kph or more, according to traffic police.
But Mr Havinoviski said much of the enforcement seems to be automated.
“I believe actual police enforcement of speed limits should accompany the cameras whenever possible,” he said. “I get a sense there are some people who willing to pay the electronic fine if it means they can travel faster. It’s almost like a toll, an expensive toll.”
The traffic safety improvement strategy of the directorate is based on what it calls the “Six Es”: enforcement, education, engineering, emergency response, evaluation and engagement, plus integration.
Engagement highlights the importance of social responsibility in traffic safety.
There should be a cultural change to learning to drive no faster than the speed limit, Mr Havinoviski said.
“That is a real challenge in a place where people love fast cars,” he said. “People are speeding in vehicles that are clearly not in safe operating condition or even meant to be driven at high speeds.”
Simon Labbett, regional director at UK-based Transport Research Laboratory agreed that education and visible policing are essential.
“You drive down any road, and you see that one doesn’t comply and why is that?” he said.
"You have high penalties in Abu Dhabi for heavily tinted windows driving around and clearly, in breach of current legislation. Legislation was put there for a very good reason."
The penalty for exceeding the permitted level of tint is a Dh500 fine and 30 days car impoundment, according to the Ministry of Interior.
An overriding concern is the lack of legislation on child car seats.
“We know from various surveys that it has encountered sharp cultural resistance in the UAE,” Mr Havinoviski said.
An educational programme should be backed with enforcement, said Dr Salaheddine Bendak, associate professor at University of Sharjah.
“Together they will give much better results according to research studies worldwide.”
Mr Havinoviski agreed.
“Road safety has to be pushed to the public in some way. It needs to be presented through education in schools or colleges, and even for people trying to get a driving licence in the UAE. And you have to enforce the laws.”
rruiz@thenational.ae
