Abu Dhabi, March 31: The Ministry of Interior (MoI) predicts that road fatalities in the UAE will be reduced to one per 100,000 population in the next three years.
“MoI’s strategy is to reduce the number of fatalities, and this is a realistic prediction for 2008 to 2011,” said Amina Al Saadi, researcher at the General Directorate of Traffic Coordination at MoI.
She noted that the number of deaths due to vehicular accidents last year was 1.5 per 100,000 population.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the international symposium on The Role of Media in Traffic Safety on Wednesday, Al Saadi said the number of deaths on the UAE roads decreased by 24.29 per cent from 1,071 in 2008 to 826 in 2010. The number of road injuries came down to 9,032 last year from 12,150 in 2008, a reduction of 26.74 per cent. Road accidents, meanwhile, dipped by 26.36 per cent from 10,135 in 2008 to 7615 in 2010.
The Dubai Police has set an ambitious goal to decrease road death to zero by 2020. At his presentation at the symposium, Lt-General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai Police, noted that road fatalities in 2009 was 225. “By reducing deaths by 25 every year starting 2010, we will have zero fatality by 2020,” he said.
Deaths on Dubai roads in 2010 were 4.56 per 100,000 population. “We are not that far away to zero, we can do that,” Lt Gen Khalfan expressed confidently, adding his intention to compete with the Scandinavian countries, notably the best in traffic safety.
“We have the strategy, we are looking at the best experience around the world to bring it to Dubai,” he stated.
–Agencies–