The top-five most dangerous roads in Dubai

By Eudore R. Chand

DUBAI 15 July 2018: Sudden deviation by motorists has been listed as the top cause of deaths on Dubai’s roads over the past six months.

Brigadier General Saif Mazrouei, Director of General Department of Traffic in Dubai Police, said during the first half of this year, Dubai witnessed a traffic accidents resulting in the death of 76 people and injuries to 884.

Of these, drivers were the main ones hurt (390), followed by passengers (293), and pedestrians (201).

Brigadier General Saif Mazrouei

The number of those with serious injuries was 73, those with medium injuries numbers 287 and those with small injuries stood at 448.

Brig Gen Mazrouei pointed out that most dangerous roads in Dubai were:

  1. Emirates Road was the most dangerous one with 30 accidents resulting in the death of 14 persons, followed by
  2. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road with 72 incidents,
  3. Sheikh Zayed Road with 69 incidents resulting in the death of 8 people,
  4. Dubai Al-Ain Road which witnessed 26 accidents resulting in the death of 4 people, and finally
  5. Fares Street with 34 accidents resulting in the death of 3 people

Top causes of road deaths were:

  1. Sudden deviation caused 317 traffic accident resulting in the death of 23 persons and injury to 268.
  2. Not leaving sufficient distance between vehicles caused 235 traffic resulting in death 15) persons and injuries to 179
  3. A lack of appreciation Right-of-Way  caused 132 traffic accidents resulting in the death of 17 people with another 140 injured.
  4. There were 76 jaywalking accidents, resulting in the death of two people, and injuries to 60 others.

Excessive speed was the top cause of accidents in Dubai during the first half of this yea. There were 260,169 speed violations recorded in the first half – making it by far the largest type of traffic violation.

Brig Gen Mazrouei pointed out that despite the warning of the risks through media and many awareness campaigns, speeding on Dubai roads continues.

In the past few years, Dubai Police has launched several traffic campaigns warning the public against the dangers of speeding, pointing to a “fatal speed” campaign.

Brigadier General Al Mazrouei pointed out that the campaigns organized by Dubai Police in this regard are not limited only to the awareness of drivers, but also include patrols dedicated to monitoring vehicle speeds and violations of public safety laws.

The director of the General Directorate of Traffic pointed out that the violation of the non-compliance by light vehicles came in second highest and stood at 189,992.

Third highest violations were of parking – 79,752.

Traffic jams was ranked fourth with 64,487 violations, and in the fifth place came the violation of using the telephone while driving – 21,362 violations.

He added that there were 19,849 violations of stopping vehicles on the sidewalks, in addition to 17,528 violations of safety belt while driving, and 8,635 violations of bypass on the shoulder, 7,004 violation of standing in the middle of the road without justification, and 5,598 violations of driving the vehicle in the wrong direction.