Pedestrian accident numbers in the UAE falling

Road accidents involving pedestrians have dropped by a quarter, according to the interior ministry.

The number of accidents involving pedestrians on the nation's roads dropped by 24.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2012, compared to the same period last year.

However, according to Interior Ministry figures, during the same period the number of road accident fatalities decreased by only 6.6 per cent. The figures did not include how many of these fatalities were pedestrians.

Between July and September, 151 people died in about 900 crashes on UAE roads.

"An evaluation of traffic figures across the nation has shown improvement in a number of variables, including in the number of deaths on the road," Brig Gen Ghaith Al Zaabi, director general of the traffic coordination department at the ministry, told The National's Arabic-language sister paper, Al Ittihad.