Man, 18, who caused car accident which killed four is jailed in Dubai

DUBAI // An Emirati has been sentenced to six months in jail, fined Dh5,000 and ordered to pay Dh800,000 in Diyya (blood money) after causing an accident in which four students were killed.

The Traffic Court ordered the 18-year to pay Diyya to the students’ families, suspended his driving licence for one year, and referred the civil case to the relevant court.

The accident took place in September last year when the Emirati was driving under the influence of alcohol and at a high speed in Dubai Academic City Road. His vehicle veered to the right and hit a car that had stopped on the hard shoulder, the court heard.

The Emirati’s vehicle flipped over, while the stationary vehicle slammed into a second parked car, which in turn hit eight people standing nearby. Four people were killed and four others were wounded.

One of the four killed was American and the rest were Arabs, including a Lebanese, a Jordanian and a Palestinian, Dubai police chief Maj Gen Khamis Al Muzeina said at the time. Those killed were aged between 17 and 19.

In addition to those killed, four people, including an Egyptian, a Canadian, a Russian and an American sustained moderate to serious injuries.

The victims were standing on the hard shoulder, near the two parked vehicles. The two drivers of the parked cars were cleared of charges of involuntary manslaughter and damage to the property of others, reported Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister paper of The National.

The four deaths brought the toll to more than 100 who were killed on Dubai’s roads in the first seven months of last year.

Police said at the time that most road deaths were a result of car crashes, followed by run-over incidents.

The main reasons for accidents were sudden swerving, speeding, running red lights, tailgating, not giving pedestrians the right of way, not keeping to a lane and not ensuring the path is clear before entering a road.

In 2012, three Emiratis aged between 17 and 19 were injured in two accidents in the area.

That same year, Dubai Police confiscated more than 500 vehicles, including dune buggies and quad bikes, within two kilometres of the Al Warqa roundabout. They launched a campaign to educate youths about the deadly consequences of aggressive driving, whether in the desert or on the road.