Sunday, Feb 26, 2017

Abu Dhabi

Stringent police action against errant pedestrians in recent years has contributed to reduction in number of Indians dying in road accidents in Abu Dhabi emirate, according to social workers who help repatriate bodies.

Many victims of road accidents used to be pedestrians but that trend has changed in the recent years, they told Gulf News.

The Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi told Gulf News that the number of Indians dying in road accidents went down by around 30 per cent during the past six years — from 62 in 2010 to 44 in 2016. However, the embassy did not have the exact details of the fatal road accidents, including the cause, in its records.

Mohan Ramanthali, 55, an Indian public relations officer and social worker, said he noticed a drop in number of pedestrians’ death in the past three years. “Most of the bodies [of road accidents, he handled in recent years] were of people who died in vehicle collision, hit-and-run and related incidents, he said. About three years ago, I used to handle many bodies of pedestrians,” said Ramanthali who has been helping the community members to repatriate bodies for 30 years.

M.M. Naser Kanjhangad, 42, another social worker, said number of pedestrian deaths had a downward trend since Abu Dhabi Police started issuing on-the-spot fines to errant pedestrians. Recently he handled the body of a young Indian who died in a hit-and-run incident in Al Ruwais in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi. “The 24-year old man crossed the road at a non-designated area at night. This was a one-off incident in recent months. I used to handle many more such cases three years ago,” Kanjhangad said.

Ramanthali said he has seen plain-clothed policemen stopping errant pedestrians at accident-prone areas. There were many such accident-prone areas in Abu Dhabi city, where people used to cross roads. All those areas were fenced by the authorities. Such strict measures by the authorities have helped a lot, he said.

The social workers said similar stringent measures taken by the authorities also helped reducing worksite-accident deaths.

Companies flouting health, safety and environment regulations face hefty fines and they don’t take any chances, Kanjhangad said.

Ramanthali said most of the bodies of people who died in road accidents [he handled] were caused by human errors. “I can categorically say that in 90 per cent cases, the machines [vehicles] do not err but humans do.” Carelessness and negligence on the part of drivers caused most of the crashes, he said.

Many other crashes were caused by red light jumping, which could be easily avoided, he said.

Binsal Abdul Kader, Senior Reporter

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