Car Accidents in United Arab Emirates
Car accidents in the UAE have escalated in the recent years. UAE being a young nation has undergone a speedy growth in road construction, vehicle count and the emergence of high-risk road use behavior. With this number of factors, road carnage is set to increase heavily and is presently the second cause of death in the nation. An explosion of immigrants in the nation and the change in life of the citizen after the discovery of the oil in the last century also contribute to the escalated road carnage. Judging by the number of the fatalities reported by the Emirates Traffic Safety, one of the noted causes of the accidents is the aggressive driving in the roads.
This inquiry is going to help one understand the adverse effects of the road carnage. Road accidents in the UAE are very rampant and cause fatalities that are close to 8000 injuries (Mackay, 2003). In 2011, the socioeconomic impacts of car accidents prepared a survey that showed there were 6700 accidents 7808 injuries and 720 fatal deaths reported. According to the study by the conducted by the ETS, it is important to look into the car accidents index in various aspects.
These aspects are medical, economical, and environmental impacts. The inquiry will show the extent of the social issue. The inquiry will look into the cost of human life where the findings will influence the reduction of expenditure in road carnages experienced in the country. Furthermore, there will be a determination of the accurate and realistic ways to determine the great financial cost and losses in the country’s economy. This inquiry is important in that it gives the relevant data, which will help make the decision-makers make suitable budgets to help handle solution-seeking leads to the subsequent problems.
Causes of the road carnage
Young drivers in the country have accounted for the highest number of road accidents reported in the past few years. This is alarming as more drivers from the age of 18 -30 are receiving licenses and come into the roads with very little experience of the road regulations. The young drivers are liable for the running of pedestrians, ramming the vehicles into walls tailgating overturning of the cars and deaths in the process. According to The National newspaper, half of Abu Dhabi’s road carnage is a result of either reckless driving of young drivers, tailgating, driving through red lights indications and negligence. The young drivers are the most notorious lot of drivers who are yet to master the laws of the road.
The weather is another factor of blame. The UAE is on the dessert environment and once in a while, there is the occurrence of the fog in the area. The fog is responsible for the accidents as drivers are left sightless in the event. Moreover, the occurrence of the sand storms is equally a factor to consider during the factoring of the causes of road accidents. Reckless drivers are part of the vice of the roads as they rush into their expeditions and in the event they cause fatal accidents. Switching of lanes instead of following of the traffic rules makes the incidents of road carnages more severe. The crazy drivers cause collisions in the roads and others may cause the confusion in the lanes as they change in and out during their adventures.
The disobedience of the road safety measures is rampant for the penalty for accidents are fines where people can afford to pay the fines but at the expense of the safety of others.
Heavy vehicle in the roads is another source of road carnages in the UAE (Alomosh, 2009). Allotting to this is the gulf news as it reports that early February was a road accident that resulted in 22 people dying from a heavy truck loaded with sand. The truck rammed into a bus and the driver was fined and jailed d for a year after being found on the wrong by the law courts. Heavy trucks are liable to the death of many people as statistics show they represent 11% of road accidents in the UAE.
Effects of road carnage
Individual level
Individually a road accident disrupts the social trends as one fear there would be a road accident in the event of the daily endeavors. Individuals who feel they are more skilled in driving of vehicles do car accidents occur because of miscalculations and this. When one is involved in the road carnage, they tend to find cars hard to trust and trauma of the events haunts their daily activities in the society (Mackay, 2003). Others may never take cars for the fear of another accident. At this level, it is more of an individual take on the accident's effects on the daily living routines. Individuals feel the intangible expense of road accidents through pain, grief and risk in being in road carnage (Hassan, 2011).
National level
At the national level, there are several effects of road accidents. Road accidents affect the nations from the economic end to the environmental perspective. Nations strives to promote the accidents that happen due to the social and economic costs that come with the events of road accidents. The accident in the country costs governments money on the GDP every year as the country loses money to mend the destroyed infrastructure. Consequently, the government suffers underreporting of the incidents and this does not make the government device good methods of curbing the spread of the road carnages. In most cases, the people who fall into road accidents are the breadwinners and this may cause a detrimental trend in the production of the country as it loses a taxpayer. Adding to the woes the family suffers the financial burden of funerals and medicine.
Moreover, the people involved in accidents may never go back to their normal live since some are bed ridden and others rendered useless in the society for they get support from the machines. On the other hand, accidents cause a long time out of work costing the government money in the working deficit of the work force. The loss of experts in important fields is another factor the government loses from when the individuals involved die (Hassane & Abdullah, 2011). Economically the government experiences loss of productivity of the future and contributions as well from of the highly talented individuals who give into the development of the nation. Their knowledge and experience may be wasted in the events of the accidents.
Others lose their property in the accidents that may cause loss of businesses or investments on the vehicle due to road accidents. When the rates of accidents become so high, there is a decline in the tourism trend leading to loss of foreign exchange and revenue from the tourists. This is due to the reputation spread out by the scholars and investors on dangers of the road travel. Research shows that the investors put their recourses where they feel there is enough safety in for the investment they bring in. This includes the transport system where most of the products may be transported through. The link between health, poverty and the economy of the nation is closely related thus the increased rates of accidents cause distrust in the delivery of a country.
Global level
Road traffic injuries are a rising community health and growth problem. In examining the details of the degree and collision of road traffic injuries by means of proof at global, local and national levels, evidence reveals how severe the crisis of road traffic injuries is at current and indicates that it will grow to be worse if no suitable action is taken now (Ameratunga, Hijar & Norton, 2006). Objectives by the traffic services across the world should be able to illustrate the global intensity of the trends of road carnage and their fatalities. The social economic and health burdens brought about by the adverse effects of road accidents span from economical to domestic. According to W.H.O, regional, national and global statistics show that the burdens the accidents produce are tremendous to the amounts of US$518 in costs of GNP globally (Hassan, 2011).
The global effect of road carnages affects the age bracket of 15 to 44 years of age giving the bracket of the future generation indicating the loss of important labor and talent to the road accident. This happens without them realizing their goals in their various fields of expertise while others do not get to know where they would have been relevant in life. Moreover the emotional, physical and economic consequences to families is great and looking into the recovery of loads of money the countries could ill afford by the reduction of accidents presents a feasible side (Naci, Chisholm, & Baker, 2009).
The Efforts of UAE in Management of the Problem
Road traffic events are extracting rising public apprehension due to their overwhelming environmental, social, and economical impacts. The severity of these arbitrary events is predominantly startling in emergent countries, where the circumstances are worsening. Lately, Incident Management Systems (IMSs) have been proposed as influential gadgets to improve the dexterity and supervision of rescue functions during travel accidents.
Nevertheless, most of the accessible commercial IMS solutions are deliberated for hefty urban cities and surrounded by the framework of urbanized nations. The IMSs will help the decision makers to gauge the appropriateness of the customized system that help handle the rescue operations in the UAE (Ameratunga, Hijar & Norton, 2006). The adoptions of the IMSs in the country will help tackle the escalating levels of accidents in the country (Bener, & Alwash, 2002). They will inspire public safety and encourage more customization of the systems in the fashion of the local needs. The theoretical frameworks that can guide the implementation of the systems are available since they are systems that are in use in other developed nations. Tailoring the systems towards the requirements of the UAE is paramount in the development of strategies to prevent road carnages. IMSs are one of the solutions proposed by the government.
Secondly, sensitizing the people on the importance of good driving manners will be appropriate for the public. According to the government, raising the traffic consciousness of youthful drivers must be carried all the way through efficient projects that reflect on the current communication style, for instance, social media, and other appropriate youthful media. The Abu Dhabi traffic department is increasing its responsiveness labors via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as it focuses on the reduction of the road carnages in the country (Hammad, et al, 2011). It launched the “together initiative” to help reduce the number of crashes that occur in the nation. Other plans are gratifying the best young driver. On the other hand, the best family on the road will receive an award since there has also been a launch by the Abu Dhabi traffic police for the same purpose. A traffic week is set aside by the Abu Dhabi traffic police to sensitize the public on the importance of the road safety for the nation, family, and society health in general (Bener, & Alwash, 2002).
Several counseling institutions have been set up in the country to help young drivers change their driving perceptions in the roads. The intervention is seen as lucrative in reducing the amounts of road accidents for the number of the youthful thrill seekers will trim down. The centers give the drivers the reason behind the cause of accidents by giving them facts on the responsible driver or a reckless driver’s decision on the road environment (Ameratunga, Hijar & Norton, 2006). They are told of the wrong judgments of a responsible driver or a rash choice of a reckless driver for instance, speeding and tailgating are situations that are created where there is a lot of demand on safety that goes beyond capabilities of the human cognitive system. The centers tackle the psychology of the car and help the drivers.
Suggestions on the solution
Citizen level
The citizens should follow the right channels when driving vehicles on the roads since they are machines that need the directions from the human in control of the wheel. They would misbehave if the one directing them misbehaves. Therefore, decorum should be extended from the wheel to the roads and the nation will realize the fruits of a responsible citizen base that respects the roads and its rules. Further set of laws should be made in the penalties section of the country road regulations. Instead of fines, a jail term will make the road abuse a critical crime that no one wants to commit.
Government level
The government should make the blind spots a regular reminder to the drivers on the roads by constantly repairing the lost parts of the signs. Consequently, the signs may be invisible thus; the government is obligated to make sure the signs are clear to every driver in the roads. Consequently, the government should employ adequate traffic police who has learnt the best practices of road safety to help ensure there is no further damage in the event of a small accident. The government should also launch campaigns on the safety of the roads and warn the youth drivers on the reckless driving habits. Stiffer regulations on the traffic offenders instead of the normal fines should be employed.
Globally
At the global level, forums and symposiums on effective road use should be frequent to develop better ways to use the roads. Help in introduction of better methods to deal with escalated road carnages in countries that have prone accidents should be done by the global economic giants through funding of viable projects that reduce the stress of road carnage. As a whole, the global avenue should look into ways to make driving on roads an enjoyable experience rather than a life-threatening escapade.
References
Alomosh, A. (2009). Victims Of Crime In The United Arab Emirates. Social Behavior &
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Ameratunga, S., Hijar, M., & Norton, R. (2006). Road-traffic injuries: confronting disparities to address a global-health problem. Lancet,367(9521), 1533-1540.
Bener, A., & Alwash, R. R. (2002). A Perspective on Motor Vehicle Crash Injuries and Speeding in the United Arab Emirates. Traffic Injury Prevention, 3(1), 61-64.
Hammad, F. T., Eid, H. O., Hefny, A. F., & Abu-Zidan, F. M. (2011). Profiling genitourinary injuries in United Arab Emirates. Journal Of Emergencies, Trauma & Shock, 4(3), 342- 345.
Hassan, N. M. (2011). Correlating Driver Characteristics and Behavior to Radar Related Traffic Accidents Using Simulation. International Journal Of Engineering & Technology, 11 (6), 127-141.
Hassane, S. H., & Abdullah, A. (2011). EXPLORING THE MOST PREVALENT SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.International Journal Of Academic Research, 3(2), 572-577.
Mackay, M. (2003). Global priorities for vehicle safety. Traffic Injury Prevention, 4 (1),
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