Road crashes kill 338 in five months

Road accidents caused by excess speed and other road violations killed 338 people and injured 3,326in the UAE in the first five months of 2011, a senior police officer was reported on Monday as saying.

Brigadier Gaith Al Zaabi, director of traffic coordination at the interior ministry, said mistakes by drivers as well as factors related to road and vehicles caused the nearly 2,168 accidents on UAE roads in the first five months of this year, one of the highest road accident rates in the world relative to the country’s population.

His figures showed failure by drivers to stick to lane resulted in 177 accidents that killed 20 people and injured 291.

Miscalculation by road users was anther key reason as it led to the death of 21 people and injury of 393. Overspeed resulted in 43 serious accidents involving the death of 20 people and injury of 60.

Tyre blast caused 42 mishaps that killed 20 people and wounded 143 while nine persons were killed and 251 injured in 129 accidents caused by jumping the red lights. Reckless driving also resulted in 52 accidents that caused the death of nine people and injury of 68.

Zaabi said traffic police had just launched the second awareness drive this year under the slogan “don’t end your life with an accident,”, adding that all people should contribute to this campaign.

“The campaign will continue for three months and it is intended to curb serious accidents by urging road users to respect traffic rules and realize the dangers of their non-compliance with these rules,” he said.

“Every citizen should contribute to curbing accidents and their resulting human and financial losses as well as their psychological effects on the victims’ families and on those injured.”
 

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