The Director General of the Board of Directors of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority, Mattar Mohamed Al Tayer, emphasized that the authority’s efforts to improve traffic safety and enhance pedestrian safety contributed to reducing pedestrian accident deaths in Dubai by 76.5% during the period from 2007 to 2019, as pedestrian deaths decreased from 9.5 Deaths per 100,000 population (145 deaths) in 2007 to 0.59 deaths per 100,000 population (34 deaths) in 2019.
He said that the number of pedestrian bridges in Dubai increased from 13 bridges in 2006 to 116 bridges in 2020, and the authority plans to implement 34 pedestrian bridges during the period from 2021 to 2026, bringing the total number of pedestrian bridges to 150 bridges.
He pointed out that the authority implemented three pedestrian bridges in the years 2018 and 2019 in the streets of Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Al Khawaneej and Al Maraba'a, and this year and next year, seven bridges distributed on the streets of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Latifa bint Hamdan, Khalid bin Al Walid and Al Asayel will be completed. (Two bridges), Al-Aweer, Bani Yas and Al-Khawaneej.
He pointed out that the performance indicators and targets of the traffic safety strategy showed a decrease in pedestrian deaths in the streets where a large percentage of accidents are recorded, as the number of deaths on Sheikh Zayed Road decreased from five deaths in 2018 to one in 2019. The number of deaths on Emirates Street also decreased from Four deaths to one death during the same period, and the number of deaths in the Al Quoz industrial area decreased from three deaths to zero deaths in 2019.
He pointed out that the results of evaluating the implementation of pedestrian bridges in eight vital streets in Dubai during the three years, before and after the implementation of the bridges, showed a decrease in the number of pedestrian accident deaths in locations near pedestrian bridges, from four deaths to zero deaths, and a decrease in the number of accidents from 20 accidents to One accident.
He stressed that the authority works according to specific criteria to determine the locations of the implementation of pedestrian bridges in the Emirate of Dubai, through traffic studies that take into account traffic intensity, the number of pedestrian accidents and deaths, the maximum road speed, the number of road paths, the density of population movement on both sides of the road, the distance to the nearest pedestrian crossing and the location of public transport bus stops In addition to the areas where markets and institutions are concentrated, and the locations where a large percentage of run over accidents are recorded.
He pointed out that studies and procedures related to run over accidents constitute an important part of the traffic safety strategy that the authority attaches of utmost importance, noting that the vision of the traffic safety strategy for the Emirate of Dubai was set as “zero deaths” to be the emirate of the safest in the world in the field of traffic safety by 2021 Matar Al Tayer called on the residents, including citizens, residents and visitors, to use bridges and tunnels designated for crossing the road. He also called on vehicle drivers to adhere to the speed limit and reduce it at places of pedestrian crossing, in order to ensure their safety and that of road users.