Drunk driving kills 11 in Dubai in 10 months

Driving under the influence of alcohol killed 11 people in Dubai in the first 10 months of 2011 as some motorists appear to be undeterred by tougher punishment introduced by the emirate against drunk driving.

The death toll was more than double that in the same period of last year, when four people were killed as a result of driving under the influence of alcohol.

“Drunk driving is a very serious traffic offence as it often results in the death of innocents,” said Major General Mohammed Al Zafin, director Dubai Traffic police.

He noted that under the new federal traffic law, motorists caught driving while drunk could be jailed or fined Dh20,000.

“During the first 10 months of this year, there was an increase of nearly 260 per cent in the deaths resulting from driving under the influence of alcohol,” he told the semi official Arabic language daily Alittihad.

His figures showed Dubai police issued a whopping 200,000 tickets for offending drivers in October, an average 6,666 offences a day.

They included around 128,000 speed offences, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the total traffic violations during that month, he said.

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