Dubai Police: 525 road traffic deaths in 2017

New campaign launched as statistics show high rate of speed-related deaths on the roads

Police said the car overturned and then hit a concrete wall. Dubai Police

Just under half of all road accident deaths are related to speeding, Dubai Police said.

Of the 525 deaths in road accidents recorded in the UAE, up to December 23 this year, 230 occurred as a result of speeding.

The statistics were revealed as a three-month nationwide campaign, to raise awareness about the dangers of speeding, was launched on Thursday.

The Ministry of Interior said the total number of deaths had decreased when compared to the 706 deaths, of which 312 were linked to speeding, recorded in 2016.

The new campaign, “Don’t let speeding turn you into a killer”, will begin on January 1, 2018 under the patronage of Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.

“Most road fatalities and major accidents are a result of speeding, which counts for 40 per cent of the total number of traffic accidents. A total of 230 people were killed on the country’s roads due to over speeding this year,” said Maj Gen Mohammed Al Zafeen, head of the Federal National Council and assistant commander-in-chief of the Dubai Police.

“Speeding by itself may not be the only reason behind accidents, but it will cause major accidents when it’s accompanied with other reasons, such as failure to maintain a safe distance and tyre blowouts,” said Maj Gen Al Zafeen.

“We find it is important to launch the three-month anti-speeding campaign to remind drivers that speeding does kill and may make the driver, a killer,” said Maj Gen Al Zafeen.

He revealed that in 2017, authorities issued: 5,395 fines for exceeding the speed limit by more than 80kph; 56,633 fines for exceeding the speed limit by more than 70kph; and 100,296 fines for exceeding the speed limit by more than 60kph.

By contrast, in 2016 a total of 92,592 fines were issued for exceeding the speed limit by more than 70kph and 129,699 fines were issued for exceeding the speed limit by more than 60kph. However, no speeding fines were recorded for exceeding the speeding limit by more than 80kph in 2016, said the Ministry of Interior.

The fact that over 5,000 fines were issued for exceeding the speed limit by 80kph, “indicates that there is a huge problem that needs to be tackled,” said Maj Gen Al Zafeen.

He said police stations were given the authority to come up with the best methods to approach the public and raise awareness about breaking the speed limit.

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“Road fatality indicators have decreased (in recent) years. We planned to reach 5 road deaths per 100,000 people and we have reached 4.4 road deaths per 100,000 people,” said Maj Gen Al Zafeen.

Several initiatives, new rules and traffic awareness campaigns have been rolled out by Dubai police and the Ministry of Interior to reduce road fatalities.  Among them is reducing the speed limit to 110kph on two major roads in Dubai.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road speed limits were reduced to 110kph after in-depth traffic surveys and studies. Both highways were found to be carrying large volumes of traffic and were hotspots for accidents and collisions.

The move came into force from October 15, 2017.