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A screenshot of the anti-swerving social media campaign of the Ministry of Interior. Image Credit: MOI / Twitter

Abu Dhabi: Sudden swerving remains a major cause of road deaths in the UAE — and is now a target of a new campaign by authorities.

In the first half of 2017, police recorded 315 deaths on UAE roads.

Sudden swerving accounted for 15 per cent of the causes of road accidents, according to a report.

Now, the UAE Ministry of Interior (MOI) has launched a new drive, with a simple video aimed to help raise public awareness about the dangerous habit of swerving.

The campaign comes with the hashtag #come_on.

 
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In the first six months of 2017, traffic police recorded 2,133 road accidents, a 15.35 per cent drop compared to 2,520 during the same period in 2016.

In July this year, Brigadier Ghaith Hassan Al Zaabi, director general of Traffic Coordination at the Ministry of Interior, said the drop in road accidents and fatalities is the result of awareness drives and measures adopted by the ministry.

The ministry aims to bring down the road fatalities by three persons per 100,000 of residents by 2021, Brigadier Al Zaabi said.

Sudden swerving, he said, led to death of 63 people, lack of assessment of road users 56, Speeding 37, not leaving enough distance 37 deaths while inattentiveness claimed the lives of 30 motorists.

Sudden swerving carries a fine of Dh1,000, according to the updated list of penalties for traffic violations.