Crashes drop by 13% on key Dubai highways after speed limit reduction

People do not cross roads from the designated pedestrian crossings that leads to fatal accidents.

Reducing speed limit on the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road and the Emirates Road to 110kmph helped bring down traffic accidents by 13 per cent last year, said Major-General Mohammed Saif Al Zafin, chairman of the Federal Traffic Council and assistant commander-in-chief of the Dubai Police for operations. "Ongoing indicators show that accidents are expected to go further down on these roads by the end of 2019."

The latest figures indicate that failure of drivers to buckle up, wrong overtaking, ignoring safety distance between vehicles, and jaywalking are the main reasons behind road fatalities, Al Zafin added. He pointed out that speeding caused 40 per cent traffic fatalities last year in the country. "Most of the people injured and killed last year in traffic accidents were 18 to 24 years old."

"Ongoing indicators show that accidents are expected to go further down on these roads by the end of 2019."

Saif Al Zafin, Chairman of the Federal Traffic Council and Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai Police for operations

"People do not cross roads from the designated pedestrian crossings that leads to fatal accidents." Drivers and passengers should always fasten seatbelts and keep their focus on the road, he stressed. "Motorists should be more tolerant and never get involved in road rage."

Al Zafin added that the road mortality rate in the UAE is 3.38 per cent per 100,000 people. The UAE is ahead of Finland, Spain, France and Australia in this mortality rate and the police across the country aim to reduce it to 1 or 2 per cent by spreading traffic education among different road users, he underlined.

The speed limit reduction on the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road and the Emirates Road from 120kmph to 110kmph was implemented on October 15, 2017. The decision was mainly intended to curb traffic accidents resulting from speeding, especially as the two roads witness huge volumes of heavy vehicles traffic in both directions.

The procedure of controlling the speed limits is based on several criteria highlighted by the design speed of the road, and the actual speed observed by the majority of drivers, the Roads and Transport Authority had pointed out.

This article was originally published here on khaleejtimes.com