No Surpries there..............
Posted by jasoir, Dubai, UAE on 30 June 2008 at 14:37 UAE time
Worrying statistics, however I am not surprised. This week I was tailgated, encountered the flashing lights, the sounding horn etc. It was frightening to see the irrational behaviour of this dark windowed white Lexus.
I could have switched lanes, but I was a little over the speed limit and had no intention of yielding to this illegal and inconsiderate driving. Finally the driver overtook and came level with me, wound the window down to which I ignored, eventually I glanced over to see a waving finger and shaking head by a policeman. A POLICEMAN!!!! I was prepared to be pulled over, however I was not and he sped away to continue his driving style on someone ahead of me.

How can driving violations be policed if this is acceptable from the upholders of the law?

I suggest CCTV policing of the road roads, which would be applicable to ALL drivers in the UAE so that the traffic laws, punishments and fines can be applied fairly. This will never happen if there are obvious exemptions and impartiality?

The Police need to be seen to do more about this....
Posted by Concern, Dubai, UAE on 28 June 2008 at 11:21 UAE time

I am surprised at the statistic that most deaths on the road are Emirati. However, I am not in the least bit surprised that the number of deaths on the roads in Dubai is far higher than average.

When driving on the road there is a shocking amount of inconsideration in the driving behaviour that can be seen. I see drivers driving with a different behaviour in the UAE as to how they would drive in their home country. Unfortunately, it would seem that if you can be seen to easily get way with such driving, the behaviour becomes contagious and effectively others are encouraged to drive without consideration. In modern cars, it is easy to get a feeling of safety when travelling at speed but in my home country I know that if I go over the speed limit I stand a very high chance of getting caught and severely penalised and I am, therefore, not tempted to over speed.

You can't drive on Sheikh Zaieed Road for 5 minutes without seeing driving that would certainly land you with a hefty fine and points towards getting you totally banned in most Western Countries. I have been driving on the SZR almost everyday for the last 5 years and don’t believe that I am exaggerating. I wish I could just drive with a video camera on the bonnet of my car and just upload the footage for someone with the time to catalogue all the incidents and appropriately apprehend the culprits – alas, this is not practical (or legal).

We have a lot of well trained Police on the roads in Dubai and the government has the tools already in place to allow the Police to Warn, Fine, Ban or even Jail drivers.

The inconsiderate and reckless driving often happens within view of these Police but I have never, myself, seen the Police actually take action. There is currently too much bad driving for the Police to seemingly be able to handle and I get the impression that they do not try as hard as they should to win this particular battle. However, I believe that if the Police were seen to pull over the bad drivers and dish out the appropriate penalties, it will not just be the specific driver that was pulled over that got the warning but also every driver passing by. If the Police were to take this kind of action using unmarked cars fitted with sirens and flashing lights that could be used when needed, I believe we would see an even faster end to the contagiousness of the behaviour.

its the attitude that has be to changed
Posted by Raj on 26 June 2008 at 11:41 UAE time
Its very sad to know that most of the accident victims are locals and with such low population of theirs, each and every life is precious. I strongly feel that the attitude of the drivers (locals or expats) has to change to prevent such loss of life. In my experience, most of the dangerous driving generally happens on the fast tracks.

The sad part is people think that city roads also have varying speed tracks and keep flashing behind in left most tracks. They don't realize that all the lanes have same speed.

Am also leaving
Posted by H.Nair, Dubai on 24 June 2008 at 13:11 UAE time
Well i completely agree with the people who got sick driving in the UAE roads. I am fresh from such an incident, half an hour back i was driving to my office in Dubai from my home in Ajman. A dark tinted Mayback driven by 2 local guys tailgated me dangerously (imagine it was noon rush hour and traffic was crawling in a snail's place, near National Paints), served violently from side to side, prevented me from switching lanes, rolled down the drivers window shouted at me, made the traffic in his lane to halt completely. And the crime i committed - Switching to his lane in front of him that too with proper signalling and response time for him....This country is one of the safest countries in the world...But on road....its deathly dangerous.....But the fun part of it was when i explained this to my colleagues back in office, they were cautioning me that I escaped unhurt because this is not always the case.

Grow Up -
Posted by Abulaban on 24 June 2008 at 12:46 UAE time
It surprises me as an expat to hear you whining about locals... after all its their country. Coming to the UAE, I've encountered lots of locals the majority of which are hospitable and respectful. I've been driving here, Sharjah-Dubai, for a while and i got cut off, was tailgated, given the finger(s) by more Asians nationality than locals. Does this mean that all Asians are bad drivers? no. Lets not generalize and judge a whole nation based on some. The hypocrites are those who say what they don't do. So stop calling the locals and Arabs names and look at what YOU do. after all, there is the good and bad in all of us.

Leaving Dubai
Posted by sid on 24 June 2008 at 01:02 UAE time
This is the main reason i am leaving Dubai. Although financially I have done well here, the trauma of driving on the roads is something I can do without. No where in the world have I ever seen drivers so aggressive and down right rude. There is no civility on the road. We constantly hear that the UAE has very low crimes compare to other countries. But if you count the crimes committed on the road every minute of every day, then it is not a low crime place.

But of course
Posted by Rainigade, Dubai, UAE on 23 June 2008 at 13:21 UAE time
But of course more Emiratis get into dangerous driving patterns. Most of them do not have to follow the same set of rules that are imposed on others. How many times, as an expat, have you just ignored the fact that you've been dangerously cut off by a local, because you knew that if you created a fuss.... they'll get out of it anyway.

My Irish friend was tailgated horrendously by two local boys in a dark tinted 4x4, when she was driving home one evening. When they finally harangued her off the lane (almost banging other cars in the process) and she rudely gestured to them - they forced her off the road, aggressively shouted at her and called the police. And guess what? The police threatened my friend with jail time for rudely gesturing.

Which one's more dangerous? Tailgating at excessive speeds? Or flipping someone the bird? Which one takes lives? (Please note I am not condoning her gesture as this is considered rude even in the West)

Something for the government to think about, I guess.

When is something effective going to be enforced?
Posted by Dee, Dubai on 23 June 2008 at 12:50 UAE time
Without a doubt, the biggest source of stress for many living in the UAE comes from driving on the roads. The fact that peoples' lives are put seriously at risk simply by transporting themselves from A to B is a major issue.
The number one cause of this, as we all know, is those who are reckless and aggressive drivers. In the 9 years I have lived in the UAE, I'm pretty sure that the grey hairs that have appeared on my head come from "close calls" I've had on the roads from Maniacally flashing headlight tail gaters, drivers changing lanes without checking their mirror/ blind spot, over takers on the hard shoulder (and from all sides in fact), etc... And before any smart alec makes a comment, I'm not one of those drivers who drives frustratingly slowly on the fast lanes of the highway.
The best solution to this could be to implement a strong network of surveillance cameras on the highway, like the ones in operation in the UK. REALLY close monitoring has become an absolute necessity. Culprits caught red-handed for all kinds of offences will bring the accident rate down significantly. First offence = heavy fine. Second offence = license revoked.
Speed cameras are simply not enough any more because everyone knows where they are and simply slows down at the right locations and speeds right up the moment the camera is passed. So really, they're not nearly as effective as we would like.
A strict clamp down on the daily aggression and irresponsibility on the roads is a must if we are to reduce the life threatening situations we face on a daily basis.

Statistics???
Posted by AltinD, Dubai, UAE on 23 June 2008 at 12:12 UAE time
It is very clear that 1,056 is the number of the fatalities during 2007, while the 25% figure might be the percentage of Emirati victims.

Road Accidents
Posted by Nick, Dubai, UAE on 23 June 2008 at 06:47 UAE time
Maybe if the police did some active policing like in western countries, we would see a reduction.

Example of local policing - 10:10am on 21/06/08 I was driving on D89 Khawaneej Road towards the airport at 80km/h (posted speed limit in road construction zone under Mirdif exit) with a police car in the lane next to me. Black Landcruiser (windows tinted more than 30%) comes speeding up behind me lights flashing and hooting determined to get past forcing me to either speed up or endanger lives of other by forcing my way into the "nose to tail" traffic in the right hand lane in front of the police car (I'm sure i would have got a fine). Having got out of the way, Black Landcruiser sped off to then “cut up” other cars by suddenly veering across 3 lanes of traffic to get on to the E311 exit. Reaction from the police car was ZERO.

I can't wait for my contract to come to an end so I can leave this uncivilized country.