DUBAI // Deaths on Dubai’s roads fell by 6 per cent for the first three months of this year, with 45 people dying compared with 48 people in the same period in 2013.
Statistics released by the Traffic Public Prosecution service reveal that the 45 fatalities were a result of 41 accidents.
The figures show 11 of the accidents were due to sudden swerving, 10 were run-over incidents, seven were tailgating, three were entering a road without checking, two were speeding, two involved jumping red lights, one involved reckless driving, one was drink-driving related, and four were due to other unspecified reasons.
The Traffic Prosecution report says 19 of the 41 deadly accidents were caused by young drivers from the ages of 22 to 30, 16 caused by drivers between the ages of 31 to 49, nine were the fault of drivers over the age of 50 and three were caused by drivers from 18 to 21.
The majority of the victims were young people, with 17 of them coming from the 22 to 30 age range and 15 of them from 31 to 49. One victim was between the ages of 7 and 17, three were between 18 and 21 and nine were over the age of 50.
Chief traffic prosecutor Salah Bu Farousha said defendants in seven cases in the first quarter of last year were sentenced to jail, but only two had been imprisoned so far this year.
He also said Dh3.7 million in blood money was imposed on defendants last year, compared with Dh1.3 million this year.
The number of traffic cases seen by prosecution in the first quarter of last year was 2,026 compared with 1,712 this year.
Road safety experts welcomed the reduction in the number of deaths, but still believed most of the accidents were still avoidable.
Roshanara Sait is the director of Ciel Marketing & Events, which organises road safety awareness campaigns across the country. She said: “People from about 200 nationalities live in the UAE and everybody follows their own set of driving skills while on the roads, which leads to traffic accidents.
“If they followed properly the UAE’s road safety rules and prescribed standards then that would hugely reduce the number of accidents on the roads.”
Ms Sait emphasised that promoting awareness about traffic rules was a necessary step.
“In order to curtail road accidents we hold these seminars in schools, colleges and public places to target different people in the community,” she said.
“We hold four major road safety awareness campaigns in different Emirates to remind people about driving safely not only for themselves but for other road users too.
“Road safety is everybody’s responsibility. If everybody paid a little more attention to traffic rules, we can minimise accidents.”
Thomas Edelmann, the founder of the Road Safety UAE website, said: "The country has one of the worst traffic accident records in the world. People are always in a hurry and want to reach their destination early even if that means jumping signals, which leads to horrific accidents."
He said, if people learnt to respect each other while driving, this would have a huge affect on road safety.
He too called for better education of road users, students, cyclists and bikers.
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