Dubai road accidents cause 109 deaths in eight months

Traffic police chief says force working hard to stop crashes.

DUBAI // There were 109 deaths and 1,469 injuries on Dubai’s roads in the first eight months of this year.

Col Jamal Al Bannai, acting director of Dubai Traffic Police, said his force was working hard to respond to the challenge that accidents pose.

Sixty-four deaths occurred as a result of 627 accidents that involved private vehicles, according to police statistics quoted by Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister paper of The National. Nine hundred and seventy eight people were injured in private vehicle accidents.

Seventy-one accidents involving heavy lorries led to 12 deaths and 71 injuries. Light lorries were involved in 69 accidents that resulted in nine deaths and 89 people injured.

Eighty accidents involving motorbikes led to the deaths of six people and 90 injuries.

Abu Dhabi Police, meanwhile, blamed defective tyres for 30 accidents in which 11 people were killed and 104 injured during the first eight months of the year.

More than 26,000 fines were issued to motorists over the same period in the whole of the UAE for driving vehicles with defective tyres, according to statistics from the General Directorate of Traffic Coordination at the Ministry of Interior.

"Driving on used or expired tyres is gravely dangerous for traffic safety and road users," said Brig Ghaith Al Zaabi, director at the traffic directorate, Al Ittihad reported.

“The Federal Traffic Law mentions a fine of Dh200 for defective tyres and the fine is delivered by hand to the motorist while the car is impounded for seven days.”