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Abu Dhabi: Police have launched a campaign against speeding, a major cause of death on the emirate's roads.
Altogether 51 people died on Abu Dhabi roads last year. There were 117 accidents related to speeding, 228 injuries, and 51 deaths.
In 2008 so far there have been 98 accidents related to speeding and 48 serious injuries. It is not known how many deaths have occurred this year due to speeding.
"While we are seeing more accidents, there has been a decrease in the number of deaths on the roads. We are seeing improvements but there still needs to be more effort," Col Hamad Adeel Al Shamsi, director of the traffic and patrols department of Abu Dhabi Police, said.
Al Shamsi said the expanding population of Abu Dhabi has had an effect on the rising number of road accidents. "More and more people use the roads. The population is increasing and our highways carry more cars. This inevitably puts greater pressure on the roads," he added.
According to Al Shamsi, the predominant age group involved in speeding accidents are 18- to 25-year-olds. "Their fascination with fast cars and speed along with gadgets distracting them while driving is a deadly combination."
In an effort to stop speeding, Abu Dhabi police have installed a number of red-light cameras and radars. A black points system was also introduced where the licenses of repeat offenders will be revoked.
"We have all the tools to fight this problem. We have the radars, the red-light cameras, the police presence, but what is absent is people's knowledge of the dangers of speeding," Ahmad Al Shahi, director of the traffic department in the capital, said.
Gap in knowledge
"It doesn't make sense that a university-educated person would drive at 200km/h per hour on the highway. They simply don't have road sense. There is a gap in their knowledge and we hope our awareness campaign will fill that gap," Al Shahi said.
As part of the new campaign 300,000 brochures will be distributed at universities, offices, businesses, gas stations and government departments in English, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu and Malayalam.
Thousand of posters will be displayed throughout the city. A commercial will be released on television showing the disturbing reality of vehicles destroyed in accidents.
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