Dubai: The number of people killed on Dubai's roads fell by almost 30 per cent during the first nine months of this year.

Injury rates are also down by 12.19 per cent on last year's figures, according to statistics revealed by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Saturday.

The Ministry of Interior has commended the RTA's efforts to minimise traffic congestion, reduce accident rates, promote traffic education and lower fatalities to 1.5 per thousand of the population.

Mattar Al Tayer, chairman of the Board and executive director of the RTA, said there were 2,589 accidents in the first nine months of this year; 2,055 of which were collisions, 117 involving overturned vehicles, 405 accidents involving pedestrians and 12 classified as miscellaneous.

He said: "These accidents have resulted in 160 deaths and 1,988 injuries. The total number of accidents recorded in the first nine months of this year dipped by 3.32 per cent compared to the same period last year. Mortality and injury rates dropped by 26.94 per cent and 12.19 per cent respectively".

Initial steps

"The number of mortalities dropped to 40 in the third quarter of 2009 compared to 51 in the second quarter of the same year; a drop of 21.57 per cent. The successes made over the last three years are just initial steps towards making Dubai one of the safest cosmopolitan cities for all users of the roads and transport network."

The RTA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the ministry that plans to boost existing strategic relations with a view to minimising traffic congestion, crashes and pedestrian accidents while placing traffic education as a key priority.

"The RTA has carried out studies for compiling an integrated traffic safety strategy, which is expected to result in reducing accident fatalities to the levels prevailing in the best global cities by 2015," added Al Tayer.

"The RTA believes that enhancing traffic education and promoting traffic awareness among all road users is a community duty that cannot be completed without the concerted efforts of various government and private institutions involving all community segments, particularly parents," he said.