Abu Dhabi: Registered traffic accidents across the country have gone down by 10.7 per cent in the first eight months of this year, the Ministry of Interior announced today (Monday).
The number has gone down from 3,549 incidents during the same period last year to 3,170 this year.
However, the mortality rate has only gone down by 0.2 per cent in comparison with 2013.
“According to the indicators and due to the decrease in road accidents, the death rate of accidents has slightly decreased over the first eight months of this year with 463 deaths as compared with 464 deaths in the same period last year,” said Brigadier Gaith Hassan Al Za’abi, Director-General at the Traffic Coordination Department at the ministry.
Meanwhile, police revealed that road accident injuries decreased by 7.4 per cent over the first eight months of this year with 4,602 injuries, as compared with 4,969 injuries during the same period last year.
“All types of road accidents, together with their subsequent injuries, deaths, and traffic fines, are the natural result of the increasing use of vehicles across the UAE, which is closely linked to the growing population increase and urban development. Meanwhile, traffic departments across the country bear the major burden of training and testing thousands of people who wish to obtain their driving licences, as this is one of the most important requirements of economic and social development,” the official said.
“Each type of traffic accident that has been registered over the past eight months this year, has decreased when compared with last year. Accidents involving impacts and collisions have decreased by 14.5 per cent with 1,989 accidents this year, as compared with 2,326 accidents in 2013,” Brigadier Al Za’abi added.
According to the police statement, accidents due to swerving have been reduced by 11.5 per cent with 369 incidents this year, in comparison with the 417 that took place in 2013. Run-over accidents went down from 765 to 744 this year, marking a 2.7 per cent decline. However, other accidents have gone up by 65.9 per cent during the first eight months of this year as 68 took place in comparison with only 41 in the same period in 2013.
Brigadier Al Za’abi said that sudden lane change was the main cause of traffic accidents over the first eight months of this year which caused 589 incidents. The second main cause of accidents was due to misjudgement of road users with 406 accidents.
“The third main cause of traffic accidents was failure of road users to leave a sufficient distance between vehicles which caused 350 accidents. Negligence and lack of attention is the fourth cause, with a recorded number of 265 accidents. Speeding is the fifth main cause with 258 accidents. Entering a road before making sure it is clear caused 232 accidents, followed by failure to comply with the rules of the lane which caused 189 accidents. Running red lights caused 187 accidents, while driving under the influence caused 150 accidents. Failure to give priority to crossing pedestrians caused 107 accidents,” he said.
Brigadier Al Za’abi added: “Sudden lane change was also the main cause of mortality which caused 113 deaths. Speeding came second, causing 62 deaths, followed by the misjudgement of the road with 48 deaths. The failure to leave sufficient distance between vehicles caused 41 deaths, while negligence and lack of attention led to 39 deaths. The failure to comply with the rules of the lane caused 34 deaths, whereas entering a road before making sure it is clear caused 19 deaths. Not giving priority to pedestrians caused 19 deaths.”
Sudden lane change caused 914 injuries, failure to leave sufficient distance between vehicles led to 576 injuries while running red lights resulted in 406 injuries and misjudgement of road users came fourth with 402 injuries.
Speeding caused 390 injuries, while entering a road before making sure it is clear caused 353 injuries. Failure to comply with the rules of the lane led to 347 injuries, whereas negligence and lack of attention caused 303 injuries
Brigadier Al Za’abi called upon motorists and road users to abide by the traffic rules for their own safety and the safety of others. This advice is in order for road users to prevent hurting themselves or others in traffic accidents, which could result in injuries or loss of life and property.
