Dubai minibus accident could have been worse

Dubai: Companies renting or owning minibuses must educate their drivers on the importance of abiding by traffic rules and the speed limit while transporting passengers, as accidents involving minibuses are usually fatal, a senior official said.

The appeal came after five people were killed in a horrific accident early on Sunday morning when a minibus transporting them lost control, swerved and landed on the opposite side of the road colliding head on with another vehicle.

The accident took place at 6.25am opposite Dubai Police Officers' Club. Salah Bu Farousha, Head of Dubai Traffic Public Prosecution, said companies that own or rent minibuses must play a role in educating drivers, as in many cases companies do not even supervise their drivers.

Immediate action

"Companies must not allow drivers to speed, even if that means interfering in controlling the speed of the minibuses," he said.

Bu Farousha said if the companies noticed that their drivers were committing traffic offences they must take immediate action and not wait until an accident happens because usually accidents involving minibuses are fatal and involve several victims.

"Accidents involving minibuses increase during the summer because of speeding and unfit tyres. Therefore, there must be constant supervision on minibuses by the companies," he said. "Yesterday's accident could have been a massacre if the minibus was full," he said.

Bu Farousha said the public prosecution has started investigations into the accident by asking the police's traffic accident committee to prepare the technical report of the accident and assigning Al Rifa'a Police Station to prepare the accident file and submit it to the traffic public prosecution.

He said the public prosecution had also ordered that the victims' bodies be handed over to their families and a blood sample has been taken from the minibus driver.

Speeding is a problem

Speeding was among the main reasons behind the horrific accident that claimed five lives and left four injured, police said.

According to a statement issued by Dubai Police, the driver of a minibus carrying seven people, lost control as a result of speeding.

Brigadier Mohammad Saif Al Zafein, Director of Dubai Police's Traffic Department, who went to the accident scene, said the traffic department would hold urgent meetings with companies that own or rent minibuses to discuss safety procedures to prevent similar accidents.

"We will meet with these companies to see what exactly is the problem and why are there are so many accidents involving minibuses, are they asked to speed to reach a certain destination, are they exhausted and not getting enough sleep or other reasons," he said.

Brigadier Al Zafein said when an accident of this scale takes place, this means there is a problem.

Present at the accident scene, were Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Acting Chief of Dubai Police, Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Khadem, Director of Al Rifa'a Police Station and senior police officials from the rescue department.

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