Dubai road laws broken 5,000 times a day on average as death toll mounts

Take our poll: Hundreds of crashes led to 33 deaths in January and February alone as police reveal biggest cause of collisions, and which nationalities are at the wheel when they happen.

Three people were injured on Sunday night in this collision, one of hundreds in Dubai this year. Photo courtesy of Dubai Police
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DUBAI // Crashes on the emirate's roads killed 33 people in the first two months of this year, police said today.

Almost 400 crashes were recorded, resulting in 368 injuries and 33 deaths. Police also recorded 295,000 traffic offences.

Sudden swerving caused 13 deaths and 83 injuries, while disregarding other motorists and failing to leave enough space between vehicles killed 12, Lt Gen Mohammed Saif Al Zafeen, head of Dubai traffic, told The National's Arabic sister paper Al Ittihad.

A breakdown showed Indians, who make up about 40 per cent of the emirate's population, were most often found responsible in fatal crashes.

Emiratis, at 12 per cent of the population, were second most likely to be responsible, while Pakistanis, about 20 per cent, were third.

Indian drivers were involved in 42 crashes leading to seven deaths, Emiratis were involved in 51 crashes resulting in six deaths, and five deaths in 43 crashes involved Pakistani drivers.

The ages of those killed included 10 people between 18 and 26, eight between 27 and 35 and eight more between 36 and 53.

Only one person older than 63 was killed, the figures show.

Lt Gen Al Zafeen said driving through red lights or recklessly merging into traffic killed four people.

He said traffic offences such as driving against oncoming traffic and stunt driving had also been recorded, but did not result in any deaths.

newsdesk@thenational.ae