Dangerous driving in UAE seems to have risen

DUBAI 11 November 2019: Dangerous driving in the UAE is perceived to have increased, according to the 8^th cycle of the UAE Road Safety Monitor.

The study underlines the authorities’ efforts to further improve the country’s road infrastructure and this directly contributes to all-time-high values for driving enjoyment and a slight decrease in commute times. However, the study once again points out the (mis)behavior of motorists, stating a slight increase in the perception of dangerous driving overall, but thankfully still on a relatively low level over the 8 cycles since 2015.

“This perception study provides valuable feedback about the impact of the involved stakeholders’ efforts aimed at increasing road safety,” said Rajesh Sethi, CEO of Noor Takaful | Ethical Insurance. “We participated in this study because we believe communicating these indicators to the public can positively influence behaviors and eventually decrease road accidents.”

Thomas Edelmann, Managing Director of RoadSafetyUAE, adds: “We see positive perception trends with regards to the authorities’ continued efforts in further improving the road infrastructure and the resulting positive factors, especially with regards to driving enjoyment and slightly reduced commute times. Still, more needs to be done to educate motorists using the well perceived infrastructure by improving their driving behavior.”

The Highlights 

UAE motorists state (‘strongly agree’ / ‘agree’) their perception of the main causes of dangerous driving; trends versus the previous cycle (7^th cycle) in brackets.

• Infrastructure improvement: 81% (-2% from all-time-high of 83%)
• Overall driving enjoyment: 58% (+/- 0% from all-time-high)
• Commute times: 54% (-1%)
• Dangerous driving overall: 43% (+3%)
  • Distracted driving: 68% (-1%)
  • Speeding: 61% (+4%)
  • Lane Swerving: 61% (+1%)
  • Tailgating: 60% (+1%)
  • Involved in a collision: 19% (+/- 0%)

The study was commissioned by Noor Takaful and RoadSafetyUAE and was conducted by YouGov in October 2019, based on the views of a representative sample of 1,000 UAE residents.