Use of mobile phones while driving a major cause of accidents

Abu Dhabi: Using hand held mobile devices while driving is a major cause of accidents, a senior police offical said Thursday.

"Using mobile phones while driving is one of the major causes of accidents. 2957 accidents in Abu Dhabi last year were because of lack of attention and focus on the roads. 376 people died in these accidents and 4603 were injured.'' said Colonel Hamad Adel Al Shamsi, Director of the Traffic and Patrol department of Abu Dhabi police.

Al Shamsi announced the events lined up for GCC Traffic Week, which is celebrated across the GCC nations. The event, held under the theme ‘Don't Call until You Arrive', will begin on Sunday and run till March 19. It will focus on educating drivers about the dangers of using hand held mobile devices while driving.

A Dh 200 fine and 4 black points are slapped on motorists who use mobile phones while driving.

Al Shamsi said that the police are paying immense attention to make the roads safer by applying their traffic safety strategy – to reduce the number of deaths and severe injuries by 20 percent over the next five years.

He noted that the Federal Traffic Law introduced last year in March has resulted in positive effects like reduction of deaths and injuries by 15 percent as compared to 2007.

The number of people fined for using mobile phones while driving reduced last year from 10945 fines in 2007 to 9164 in 2008.

The opening ceremony of the traffic week will be held at the Cultural Foundation on Sunday morning. “A variety of activities, programs and competitions have been lined up including lectures at schools, quizzes, exhibition and performance of the police dog squad. Our aim is to promote traffic safety while strengthening partnership with all sections of the society – all nationalities and age groups.''

Members of the public who participate in competitions stand a chance to win laptops, television sets and other valuable prizes.

Volvo has teamed up with the police and have donated two cars, which will go to winners of raffle draws organized as part of the campaign. 200,000 awareness brochures, in English, Arabic and Malayalam, are also to be distributed during the week.