Mobile phones a factor in almost half of youth car crashes, police say

New law due later in the year to impose harsher sanctions on those seen using phones while driving, Dubai Police said.

DUBAI // Almost half of car crashes caused by young people occur because they are using their mobile phone while at the wheel, police said.

Major General Mohammed Saif Al Zafeen, assistant chief of Dubai Police for operations affairs, said a new traffic law currently under review but expected to be in force by September will impose harsher sanctions and fines for using a mobile phone while driving.

He gave the figure while launching a new traffic awareness campaign at Dubai College of Technology but said that it is difficult to get an exact figure as that would require access to the driver’s phone data.