Dubai: Fifteen people were killed in traffic accidents in areas under the jurisdiction of Al Ghusais police station up until May this year, surpassing the number of traffic deaths in 2015 as a whole.
Brigadier Ahmad Thani Bin Ghulaita Al Muhairi, Director of Al Ghusais police station, said that traffic accidents are a big problem in the area. Fourteen people were killed in traffic incidents in 2015.
“The biggest issue is run-over accidents, as we have had eight cases of people — mostly labourers — getting run over this year,” he said.
Lieutenant Ahmad Mohammad Al Shaer, from the police station’s traffic department, said that most of the victims were drunk.
In the first five months of this year, Al Ghusais police station recorded 14 incidents, in which 15 people were killed. In addition to the eight run-over incidents, there were three vehicle collisions, one was a case of crashing into an object, and two were incidents involving vehicles that overturned.
“People get into accidents for the silliest of reasons, such as texting or speaking on the phone. It is very unfortunate for a person to lose his life or kill someone because of something so trivial,” he said.
Lt Al Shaer said that most traffic incidents took place on Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road and in the Al Muhaisnah 2 area.
Last year, 14 people were killed in 14 incidents, of which six were run-over incidents, five were car collisions, two were cases of vehicles crashing into an object and one involved a vehicle that flipped over.
“The places were most incidents take place are close to labourers’ accommodations,” he said.
In the first five months of 2016, Al Qusais police station issued 2,925 fines to jaywalkers, most of whom were Asians.
“We have held many awareness campaigns, but the issue still persists,” he added.
