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29 March 2024

Accidents, congestion cost UAE Dh30bn a year

The number of traffic violations registered in Sharjah between December 15 and 20 amounted to 6,620, according to Al Khaleej newspaper. (FILE)

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By Staff

Injury crashes in the UAE have been estimated to cost the country about Dh20b annually, and another Dh10.5b reportedly wasted annually on congestion, according to research findings revealed during the 14th Gulf Engineering Forum held recently in Dubai.

The research, carried out by the Roadway, Transportation and Traffic Safety Research Centre, also revealed that the UAE sees about 10,000 crashes annually leading to about 2.7 fatalities per day.

“On an average, UAE has a relatively high percentage of vehicles per person and a low dependency on public transport; these increases the challenges of congestion in the country,” said Engineer Essa Al Maidoor, Chairman, UAE Society of Engineers, and Assistant Director for Engineering and Planning at Dubai Municipality.

“We aim to achieve zero fatality from road accidents by 2020; this is no doubt an ambitious target, but it will motivate us to continually exploit laws and regulations that will help us achieve our vision,” said Major-General Mohammed Saif Al Zaffin, Director-General, Dubai Traffic Police.