Two-year-old killed in UAQ crash

This is the second accident in as many days caused by drivers who change lanes before ensuring it is safe to do so.

UMM AL QAIWAIN // A two-year-old Emirati boy has died and seven people were injured in an accident on Sheikh Zayed Road in Umm al Qaiwain.

The accident occurred on Tuesday at about 8pm when a 29-year-old Emirati driver of a Lexus saloon entered the motorway without checking for traffic, said Khamis Bu Haroon, the director general of Umm al Qaiwain (UAQ) Police.

"His car was hit by a 4x4 on the road and a two-year-old in his car died instantly," he said. "Police are investigating if the boy was strapped into a child seat at the time of the accident."

The drivers of both cars and five passengers were taken to UAQ Hospital with medium to serious injuries.

Col Obaid Ali bin Fassel, the director of the Traffic and Licensing Department at UAQ Police, visited the injured yesterday and consoled the family of the two-year-old boy, who were also in the hospital.

"We are urging all motorists to abide by the stipulated speed limits on all roads and obey the traffic rules," he said. Most of the UAQ roads have revised their speed limits, and main highways like Al Ittihad Road - which connects UAQ with Ajman and Ras al Khaimah - have reduced the speed limit to 80 kph.

This is the second traffic accident in as many days to have claimed lives in the Northern Emirates after a driver attempted to merge with traffic before checking it was safe to do so.

A similar accident on Monday afternoon claimed two lives on the Ajman Emirates Road.

"The accident occurred when the driver of a petrol tanker suddenly saw a car entering the road in front of his tanker," said Col Ali Saeed al Matrooshi, director general of the Traffic and Licensing Department at Ajman Police. "To avoid colliding with the car, the tanker driver veered to the left lane of the road, leading to a heavy collision of his tanker with a Toyota Corolla that was behind it in the left lane. A Hyundai car travelling behind also piled on."

A male passenger in the Toyota Corolla died on the spot and his driver died a few minutes after reaching Kuwait Hospital in Sharjah. Both of the deceased were Pakistanis.

The driver of the petrol tanker and the Hyundai were both injured and also taken to Kuwait Hospital for treatment.