Fatalities in accidents on the upswing

Abu Dhabi: The UAE's traffic accident death toll per population has declined last year compared to the previous years while the number of people killed has gone up, a senior official has said. The number of accidents has gone up too.

The rate of deaths resulting from traffic accidents has declined from 15.8 per hundred thousand of the population in 2007 to 13.3 per hundred thousand of the population in 2008.
Speaking ahead of the twenty fifth edition of the GCC Traffic Week on March 14, Colonel Gaith Al Za'abi, Director of Traffic Department at Ministry of Interior, said in a statement that the different types of traffic accidents, the death and injuries that result from it, as well as traffic fines are a natural outcome of the growing population and the increasing number of vehicles.

“The traffic departments in the emirates shoulder the burden of training and testing of thousands of applicants for driver's licenses'', he said, adding that it is one of the most important requirements for economic and social development.

“Despite the challenges, the rate of deaths due to traffic accidents has declined to 13.3 per hundred thousand of the population in 2008 compared to 15.8 in 2007'', he said.

However, the number of people killed has gone up. In 2008, 1,071 people were killed in accidents, amongst which 251 were Emiratis. The death toll went up by 15 percent compared to 2007 when 1,056 died in traffic accidents.

The GCC Traffic Week will be celebrated across the GCC nations, including the UAE, from March 14 to 19 under the theme ‘Don't Call until You Arrive'.

The traffic police have planned an array of events to ensure maximum participation of all communities and age groups at the event. Held under the patronage of the Interior Minister Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the celebrations here include honoring of traffic policemen and model drivers.

The total number of traffic accidents that occurred in the country last year stands at 10,611 accidents, according to the statistics of the Interior Ministry. “The number of accidents increased by 19.6 percent last year. 10,611 accidents occurred in 2008 while 8,872 accidents in 2007.''

Amongst the 10,611 accidents in 2008, 6,856 were collisions which amounts to 69.61 percent while in 2007 collisions were 5717 which is 64.44 percent of all accidents.

The number of accidents due to swerving of vehicles increased last year. There were 1,200 such incidents last year which is 11.31 percent more than such accidents in 2007, when 997 such accidents were recorded.

Comparing accidents in 2007 and 2008, collisions represent 64 percent of the total number of accidents and 11 percent were due to swerving.

Pedestrian related accidents slightly went up last year, by two percent. 2,138 accidents occurred in 2008 which is 20.5 percent of all of the accidents, while 2,022 accidents were recorded in 2007 which is 23 percent of the total that year.

Al Za'abi cites the implementation of the Federal Traffic Law as the reason for the reduction.

Other types of accidents accounted for 417 cases in 2008, which is 3.93 percent while in 2007 there were 136 cases, which is 1.53 percent of the total accidents.

Statistics also indicate that there is a slight increase in the number of injuries. While 11,155 people were injured in 2007, 12,273 people were injured in 2008.

Al Za'abi noted that the number of traffic fines has declined since the amended traffic law came into effect last year. The number of violations reduced from 52,684 in 2007 to 42,087 in 2008.

Detailing the cause of accidents, Al Za'abi said that lack of attention by motorists is the main cause of motorist. 2,821 accidents, which is 21.34 percent of the total, was caused because of this.

11.43 percent of accidents in 2008 were caused due to entering the main road without checking for other vehicles, due to construction, changing lanes, not leaving adequate space within vehicles. Accidents due to crossing the red signal increased by 1.62 percent in 2008 as compared to 2007. Overspeeding caused 5.02 percent of accidents in 2008 while in it was 5.73 percent in 2007.

Tyre bursts is also one of the reasons for accidents. Reckless driving decreased by 0.49 percent, he said.