Dubai court blames both driver and pedestrian after crash on 80kph road

Dubai: The Dubai traffic court has convicted both a motorist and a pedestrian after finding that simultaneous errors by each party led to a collision that resulted in injury and damage to a vehicle.

According to the case file, prosecutors charged the driver with causing harm through negligence and damaging property owned by others, while the pedestrian was accused of breaching traffic rules and contributing to property damage by crossing the road unsafely.

During the trial, the driver appeared in court and denied the charges. The pedestrian, however, failed to attend the hearings despite being formally notified, allowing the court to proceed and rule in his absence under the UAE’s Criminal Procedure Law, Emarat Al Youm reported. 

After reviewing the evidence and hearing arguments, the court established that the driver had been travelling without sufficient attention to road conditions and without adequately considering other road users. The vehicle struck the pedestrian as he crossed from an undesignated area on a road where the posted speed limit was 80 kilometres per hour.

The court ruled that responsibility for the incident did not rest with the driver alone. It found that the pedestrian had also acted negligently by crossing the road from an unsafe location, directly contributing to the accident. The collision resulted in bodily injury to the pedestrian and damage to the vehicle.

In its reasoning, the court dismissed the driver’s denial, describing it as insufficient in the face of the evidence presented. It concluded that both parties had committed traffic violations, each bearing responsibility for their respective roles in the incident.

The court fined the driver Dh4,000 and imposed a Dh2,000 fine on the pedestrian, issuing the verdict in person against the driver and in absentia against the pedestrian.