11 pedestrians killed jaywalking on Dubai’s roads in 2014

A jaywalker crosses the road near Mall of the Emirates. Pedestrians are ignoring warnings from police about jaywalking. Jaime Puebla / The National

DUBAI // Police have launched a campaign to reduce the number of run-over fatalities on the emirate’s roads.

It comes after 11 pedestrians were killed and 98 injured in 94 accidents in the first three months of the year.

Last year, there were 380 accidents of this kind, in which 46 people were killed and 399 injured.

Last year 59,212 fines were issued to pedestrians for unsafe crossing of roads, compared with 24,085 fines for the offence in the first three months of this year.

Col Saif Al Mazrouei, acting director general of traffic at Dubai Police, said pedestrians were still ignoring warnings from police about jaywalking.

He said people often climbed over cement barriers in the middle of the road or passed through the openings in street fences, even when there were pedestrian crossings and bridges near by.

He also estimated that 80 per cent of pedestrians were not aware of the basic rules of crossing roads.

Col Al Mazrouei said the general department of traffic and the Ministry of Labour had launched the Cross Safely campaign to reduce the number of deaths and spread traffic awareness.