Road accidents killed 65 people in Abu Dhabi in the first five months of 2011 and they were mainly caused by reckless driving and negligence.
The death toll was far lower than that in the first five months of 2010, when 86 people were killed in road mishaps, police figures showed.
The number of accidents involving pedestrians also declined to 219 in the first five months of this year from 246 in the same period of last year.
“The decline in accidents and casualties was a result of awareness campaigns and efforts undertaken by the traffic police to curb road crashes,” said Brigadier Hussein Al Harthi, quoted by the semi official daily Alittihad on Tuesday.
A study conducted by the traffic police in the emirate showed negligence was a key cause of such accidents, accounting for nearly 40 per cent, he said.
Reckless driving, mainly speed, caused 20 per cent of the mishaps while the rest were a result of traffic violations and failure by motorists to give priority to pedestrians at crossing zones.