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28 March 2024

Abu Dhabi says traffic measures paid off

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By Staff

The number of people killed on Dhabi roads plunged to 10 in the first eight months of 2014 from  41 in the same period of 2013 and police attributed the decline to a series of measures taken on key roads in the emirate.

The number of those injured in the accidents also dived by nearly 57 per cent to 13 from 30 in the same period, police data showed.

The accidents were mainly caused by sudden change of lanes, reckless driving, and failure by motorists to leave enough space between cars, negligence and jumping red lights.

“The decline in the number of casualties was a result of a series of measures taken by the traffic police recently,” traffic police chief Brigadier Hussein Al Harthi said, quoted by the Sharjah-based Arabic language daily Al Khaleej.

He said those measures included deployment of more speed cameras and police patrols, reducing the maximum speed for trucks to 80 kph on motorways, preventing them from moving in reduced visibility and in entering Abu Dhabi city in peak hours.

He said trucks, a key cause of accidents, have also been warned against overtaking as their drivers will be fined Dh1,000 and have their vehicles impounded for one week.

“We have conducted a study which showed that trucks are a major cause of serious accident on roads…during a specific period, trucks were responsible for six per cent of the serious accidents and 16 per cent of the road deaths,” he said.