Most crashes on Wednesdays and Thursdays: Abu Dhabi Police

According to a study released by Abu Dhabi Police, Wednesdays and Thursdays record the highest number of road accidents in the capital, amounting to 17 per cent of all incidents.

The first day of the week, or Sundays, have the second highest rate, accounting for 16 per cent of all traffic accidents.

Meanwhile, Saturdays and Fridays drop a single percentage, while Mondays and Tuesdays are the safest days on the roads, at 11 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

Abu Dhabi Police has also stated that the highest number of traffic accidents occurs between 8am and 4pm, and the level of committing traffic violations is also higher at the same period.

Traffic indicators also revealed statistics of those who cause accidents according to the age group: the youths of the age group 18-30 years constituted for 46 per cent of the total number of accidents; 52 per cent of them were Emirati citizens.

The number of in-person fines that were issued to individuals of this age group was approximately 39 per cent, and Emiratis constituted nearly 50 per cent of this age group, which means that they are the segment that received the highest number of in-person fines.

The traffic studies that were adopted by the Traffic and Patrols Directorate in Abu Dhabi Police, which also revealed that road casualties have decreased by 28 per cent in Q1 2014, compared to the same period last year.

From 88 road casualties, the number dropped down to 63, while critical injuries dropped 11 per cent from 88 injuries to 78.

Brigadier Hussein Ahmed Al Harithi, Director of Traffic and Patrols Directorate stated that traffic accidents decreased by three per cent, from 547 accidents to 533.

He also said that the average number of deaths has dropped for every 10,000 vehicles by 31 per cent, despite the fact that the number of registered vehicles has increased during this period by three per cent, from 830,148 vehicles to 857,114.

Al Harithi explained that accidents that happened during the first quarter of this year varied between people being run over, collisions and swerving.

Collisions resulted in 33 deaths, followed by run-over accidents with 22 deaths and swerving with eight casualties.

He pointed that one of the main reasons of these accidents was not giving priority to pedestrians crossing the road, followed by sudden lane changing, over-speeding without consideration to road conditions, tyres exploding and not leaving enough space between cars.

Al Harithi pointed the directorate has installed 185 new radars all around Abu Dhabi and Al Ain during the first quarter of the year, as a part of a comprehensive plan to increase automated traffic control devices.

Intensifying surveillance also resulted in impounding 1,469 vehicles for dangerous driving with speeds that exceeded 200 km/h on the inner and outer roads of the emirate, he added.

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