Private cars are major killers on Dubai roads
dubai — Private cars are widely causing accidents in Dubai, claiming 44 lives out of the total 90 road fatalities that happened in nine months of this year, a top police official said. Meanwhile, accidents involving public cars have seen only one road death in the same period.
While disclosing the details, Brigadier Saif Muhair Al Mazrouei, director of traffic department at the Dubai Police, cited speeding, reckless driving, and pedestrians crossing roads from non-designated places as the main reasons for accidents.
Al Mazrouei said that the traffic department is optimistic about reducing the accidents and death index over the next two years through the newly-amended federal traffic rules. It is imperative to create traffic awareness among the motorists to achieve positive results, he added.
Other than private cars, large buses are involved in majority of accidents, according to statistics from the department of monitoring and statistical analysis at the traffic accident planning department. The large buses claimed 10 lives, followed by light cargo vehicles, which killed nine people. The minibuses caused eight road deaths. Motorcycles and heavy trucks snuffed out seven lives each, while the public cars caused one death.
Al Mazrouei pointed out that last year, Dubai traffic department had recorded 880 road accidents, leaving 1,375 injured.
He said that despite the fines introduced against jaywalkers, many continue to break the rules and jump fences and cross roads from non-designated areas.
Media had reported about an elderly tourist jaywalking and crossing 12 lanes of Shaikh Zayed Road, said Lieutenant-Colonel Rashid Mohammad Saleh, deputy director of Bur Dubai police station. He said that the old man first crossed six lanes, and then climbed over the barrier crossing six other lanes. The man later claimed that he was not aware of the rules and he was a visitor.
Al Mazrouei said that some pedestrians are forced to cross roads from non-designated areas because of lack of pedestrian overbridges, subways or crossings on roads. Accidents involving pedestrians are a major challenge the police have to tackle every day. Most of these accidents take place on highways, especially on Emirates Road, Al Khail Road and Dubai-Al Ain Road.
He said that reducing run over accidents is one of the top priorities, and added that there was a need to educate both motorists and pedestrians about proper road usage. Also, motorists should be educated to respect pedestrians, he added. He warned people against crossing roads from non-designated places.
Pedestrians’ predicament
Yazun Mohamed, a Dubai resident, said: “We live in Al Garhoud area. I prevent my children from crossing the roads from non-designated areas as it is very dangerous. Unfortunately, people are forced to cross some six-lane roads from non-designated places due to lack of enough zebra crossings at long stretches. Some pedestrians, especially elderly and women, find it difficult to walk under the sun for a long distance to find a subway or zebra crossing.”
Another resident, Othman Hassan, said that workers had no option but to walk for a long distance to cross the six-lane roads because they do not have enough money to take a taxi to go to the other side of the road due to lack of pedestrian crossings. Al Hassan said the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and the traffic police should provide subways, zebra crossings and bridges for pedestrians before imposing fines on them.
amira@khaleejtimes.com