Violation of traffic rules main cause of accidents

Violations of traffic rules remained the main cause of road accidents in the UAE despite extensive awareness drives, stringent penalties and deployment of more traffic cameras, a senior police officer was reported on Saturday as saying.

Out of the 1,121 road mishaps that took place in the UAE in the first quarter of 2011, nearly 128 accidents were caused by failure of motorists to leave enough space between their cars, said Brigadier Gaith Al Zaabi, director general of the traffic coordination department at the ministry of interior.

This offence also killed 40 people on roads last year and caused around 60 serious injuries, 353 medium injuries and 705 light injuries, he said, quoted by the semi official Arabic language daily 'Al Ittihad'.

Another violation involved entering a road without ensuring the way is clear, Zaabi said, adding that it caused 105 accidents in the first quarter, killed 65 people and injuries 945 last year.

Zaabi said violations also included failure of drivers to give consideration to road users, adding that this offence caused 95 mishaps in the first quarter.

“Failure of drivers to stick to their lanes was also a key cause of accidents in the UAE, leading to 84 accidents in the first quarter and to the death of 49 people and injury of 704 last year,” he said.

“Jumping the red lights is also a major factor in accidents…it caused 109 road mishaps in the first quarter….reckless driving caused 19 accidents while 44 accidents were caused by speeding.”
 

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