DUBAI, 23 March 2007 — Stung by a mounting number of deaths on increasingly clogged and unsafe roads, the bustling emirate of Dubai has declared war on reckless drivers. Almost a million cars throng the highways of the booming city state with a population of around 1.4 million, and that number is set to keep rising as thousands of people move to Dubai every year to claim a stake in its economic success.
According to Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), 312 people died in road accidents last year, an increase of 32 percent from 2005. This gives the emirate one of the world’s highest road mortality rates — 21.9 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Now traffic chiefs are determined to tackle the growing accident problem which they say is caused mainly by speeding, dangerous overtaking, driving too close to the car ahead and drink-driving.
The government launched a campaign in November aimed at making the roads safer. Dubbed “You Decide!,” it aims to “turn Dubai into one of the world’s 10 safest cities (for driving) within five years,” Mohammad Seif Al-Zafin, director of Dubai police’s traffic department, said.
The campaign reduced monthly deaths on the roads to 19 in November, but the number rose to 25 the following month. “Despite the ongoing campaign, careless drivers remain a problem,” said Dubai police chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim.
Authorities have given out special telephone numbers and asked the public to inform on reckless drivers.
Local newspapers have also published pictures of drivers caught breaking traffic rules by fixed or mobile radars. Penalties have been toughened and authorities plan to make the cost of reckless driving even more prohibitive.
A draft law still to be approved provides for a fine of 2,000 dirhams ($545, 400 euros) and 12 points on the driving license for running a red light, compared with 500 dirhams ($136) and five points now.
Twenty-four points and a license is lost for a year. Drivers caught breaking the law will also be notified of the penalty by e-mail within 10 minutes of the infraction — a first in the Gulf region.
