UAE road accidents kill 826 in 2010

Road accidents killed 826 people in the UAE in 2010, a decline of around 14 per cent over 2009 when 966 people died, official statistics showed on Monday.

The decline was a result of a sharp drop in the number of traffic mishaps to around 7,642 last year from 9,658 in 2009, the interior ministry said in a statement marking the GCC’s traffic week which was launched on Sunday.

“The ministry’s strategy to cut road accidents and deaths has started to pay off as the rate declined to 10.03 per 100,000 last year from nearly 25 per 100,000 five years ago,” the statement said.

UN figures have showed the UAE and other Gulf oil producers have one of the highest traffic accident rates in the world.

The UAE has been locked in a drive to curb accidents by planting more speed cameras, intensifying police street patrols, staging awareness campaigns and introducing black points that could result in suspending a driving licence.
 

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