Abu Dhabi: Road safety in the capital has improved during the first six months of this year as the number of deaths due to traffic accidents has gone down by 25 per cent in comparison with the same period last year, the Abu Dhabi Police announced on Monday.
Eighteen per cent fewer Emiratis have died due to road accidents.
Meanwhile, severe injuries have also been reduced by 22 per cent as 173 were reported during the same time in 2013 and only 135 major injuries have been recorded this year, the police reported.
Around 43 per cent of those injured were not wearing seat belts.
The number of accidents in general during the first six months of 2014 has gone down by only eight per cent as 1,061 incidents were reported last year and 971 have taken place up until now despite a seven per cent increase in registered vehicles.
Police have also revealed that men caused more accidents than women (78 per cent versus 22 per cent) and those aged 30 or below made up 54 per cent of offenders. The two top traffic incident-causing nationalities were Asians at 41 per cent and Emiratis at 29 per cent, the police said. The increase in infrared cameras on 36 traffic intersections has resulted in a 31 per cent decrease in accidents by red-light violators. Therefore, the amount of deaths from such accidents has gone down by 73 per cent.
Abu Dhabi Police are planning on installing 108 of these cameras at intersections across the city.
A new initiative to bring drivers’ attention to speed limits includes painting roads red and placing 260 mobile and static radars across the emirate.
Gulf News had previously reported that sudden swerving was the major cause of accidents. In April, police also reported a 3.6 pet cent increase in incidents where vehicles overturned.
Since 2011, major injuries and pedestrian accidents went down by 59 per cent. Since 2009 and up until last year, the total number of traffic accident deaths has been cut by 29 per cent, while severe injuries were reduced by 24 per cent. The number of traffic accidents that included injuries has also seen a 33 per cent decrease.
Abu Dhabi Police are hoping to further reduce this year’s death rates by 36 per cent by the end of the year.
As many as 226 awareness lectures have been conducted for heavy vehicle, taxi, public transport and regular drivers, in addition to schoolchildren, benefiting a total of 21,208 individuals.
In the meantime, the traffic campaign titled ‘Together’ to limit road accidents has gained an increased following on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Abu Dhabi Police has also selected a number of Emiratis and expats as traffic safety ambassadors to help spread the message and help the capital become free of accident deaths by 2030.
