24 Int. J. Vehicle Safety, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2016

Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Road traffic accidents trends in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates during 2001–2014

Khaled Hamad Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE Email: khamad@sharjah.ac.ae

Abstract: This paper quantitatively describes the extent of the road traffic accidents problem in the Emirate of Sharjah, the third largest emirate in UAE, for the period 2001–2014. Several interesting findings were revealed. While Sharjah’s population almost doubled during this period, the number of injury/ fatality causing accidents decreased by more than half during the same period. The annual number of road accidents and injuries increased until the 2008 when the numbers sharply declined then stabilised in recent years, which could be attributed to the introduction of the new traffic law of UAE. Though both accidents and injuries per 100,000 population considerably decreased annually, the fatalities per 100,000 population only marginally decreased, indicating that the severity of accident may have increased. Overall, Sharjah enjoyed a better rate of fatalities per 100,000 population than that for the whole UAE. This paper’s results should be useful to identify directions to undertake in future research, policies, and programs on highway safety in Sharjah, UAE.

Keywords: road traffic accident; highway safety; accident trend analysis; Sharjah; United Arab Emirates.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Hamad, K. (2016) ‘Road traffic accidents trends in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates during 2001–2014’, Int. J. Vehicle Safety, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.24–38.

Biographical notes: Khaled Hamad is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. He received the BEng from An-Najah National University, Palestine, and MSc and PhD degrees all in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware. His research interests are in intelligent transportation systems with emphasis on the applications of geographic information systems, artificial intelligence, and soft computing techniques in transportation.

This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘Exploring roadway accidents in Sharjah, UAE for the Period 2001 to 2014’ presented at the ‘Conference of ASEAN Road Safety 2015’, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 3–6 November 2015.

1 Introduction

Unfortunately, road traffic accidents continue to be one of the major mortality reasons in the world. According to the World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, about 1.24 million road traffic deaths occur annually (equivalent to nearly

Road traffic accidents trends in Sharjah 25

3400 deaths every day) on the world’s roads, in addition to tens of millions of people injured or disabled every year (WHO, 2013). The Report also shows that almost 127,260 persons died on the Eastern Mediterranean Region’s roads in 2010, which is about 10% of the world’s total deaths in the same year. This put the region’s fatality rate at about 21.3 per 100,000 population, as compared to the global rate of 18.03 per 100,000 population; thus making this region the second highest road traffic fatality rate in the world (only after the African Region which has a rate of 24.1 per 100,000 population).

Even more alarming is that some countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region have the highest road traffic fatality rates in the world. For example, some of the region’s high-income countries are unusual in having the highest rates of road traffic fatalities, at 21.7 per 100,000 population, which is more than double the global rate of 8.7 per 100,000 population for high-income countries (WHO, 2013). Nevertheless, many of these countries have shown significant progress in making their roads safer in the recent years. For instance, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) rate has substantially reduced its estimated accident rate from almost 37.1 per 100,000 population in 2009 (WHO, 2009) to only 12.7 per 100,000 population in 2013 (WHO, 2013).

The problem of highway safety in UAE has increasingly attracted the interest of both researchers and professionals in the past. El-Sadig et al. (2002) analysed road traffic accidents trends in the UAE during the period from 1977 until 1998. The study described quantitatively the morbidity and mortality from accidents in the UAE and compared the results with those of developed countries. Data were obtained from UAE’s police and health sources. Overall and cause-specific fatality and injury rates were estimated using linear regression. The results revealed that during the period 1977–1998, the accident rates per 100,000 population and per 100,000 motor vehicles declined. Accident fatality and injury rates based on the same denominators also declined, except for a short period (1977–1985) when a steady increase in the risk of injury and death in each accident accompanied these declines. Between 1985 and 1998 the severity rate (the ratio of fatalities and injuries per 1000 accident) more than tripled in the UAE. The study concluded that UAE’s fatalities rate were five times above the mean rate of a number of selected group of countries. The study identified three major factors that could be related to such large rates of fatalities: low-level of seat-belt usage, vehicle mix whereas older, heavier vehicles had been replaced by smaller, more lightweight vehicles, and the low-level of first-aid knowledge to deal with the injuries in the accident place before the arrival of medical emergency services.

Bener and Alwash (2002) assessed the effects of speeding on traffic safety in the United Arab Emirates. The paper found that about 90% of road accidents could be attributed to road user characteristics. The speed rates decreased dramatically after the introduction of the radar systems and speed cameras in 1994. This caused a significant decrease in causalities and fatalities. However, the numbers were still higher than in USA and the UK. The traffic fatalities in the UAE were still the second most common cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. This study concluded that while the numbers of speeding vehicles has decreased, the fatalities rate had essentially remained the same. The authors attributed this to the behaviour of UAE drivers.

Bener and Crundall (2005) evaluated trends of road traffic accidents problems in the UAE and compared these trends with other western countries like USA and UK, as well as a neighbouring country, namely Qatar. The authors used data obtained from the UAE

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Ministry of Interior’s Directorate of Traffic in 2000. Whereas the UK and USA recorded 5.7 and 15.1 fatalities per 100,000 population, UAE recorded a disparate 21.6 fatalities per 100,000 population. UAE rate was nearly one-and-a-half times greater than that in the USA, and nearly four times greater than in the UK. The number of fatalities per 100,000 vehicles showed almost a similar trend. Two causes, which together accounted for over 62% of all road traffic fatalities in UAE in 2000, were found to be careless driving and excessive speeding.

Hassana et al. (2012) proposed a holistic approach to investigate traffic safety in the UAE. The study reviewed UAE traffic accident and violation records for the period 2004–2009. Data did not follow a particular trend of increase or decrease in the number of accidents, injuries and fatalities and their rates. However, the number of accidents (that cause injury) and number of injuries decreased from 2005 to 2006 then started to increase until 2009. In 2009, the number of accidents, injuries and fatalities decreased relative to the previous year. The fatality trend also showed an increase from 2005 till 2009, but then decreased in 2009 relative to the previous year. Initially, 12 potential factors were investigated using data collected through official police reports, road-users surveys, and interview of traffic safety experts. Based on data analysis and interpretation, the main factors affecting traffic safety in the UAE are: driving behaviour, awareness, education and training, infrastructure, vehicle, law enforcement, coordination and quality of resources. Among these factors, a major deficiency was found in the “driving behaviour”. Based on the deficiency level of the factors recommendations were proposed to improve the status of traffic safety in the country.

El-Sadig et al. (2004) evaluated the effectiveness of safety seatbelt legislation after few years of implementation in the Eastern District of Abu Dhabi Emirate (UAE). The implementation of the seatbelt legislation was associated with statistically significant reduction in morbidity in those arriving alive at hospital following an accident, including reduced severity of injury, admission rate to hospital and the duration of hospital stay.

Bener et al. (2008) investigated the relationship between driving behaviour and accident involvement in UAE and Qatar. A widely-used instrument for measuring self-reported driving style, the Manchester Driver Behaviour Questionnaire, was utilised. The results showed that UAE drivers were more aggressive than their Qatari counterparts.

Abdalla (2002) examined crash and safety statistics from the Emirate of Dubai, UAE in an attempt to identify factors responsible for making population at greater risk of crashes compared to other countries. Influence and strength of the most common risk factors are quantified using relative risk, the Lorenz curve, and the Gini index. Traffic fatality risk was found to be higher in Dubai, compared to some developed countries, and to vary considerably between different classes of road users and groups of Dubai’s population.

While some effort has been made to study traffic safety in UAE in general, the purpose of this paper is to explore road traffic accidents trends in the Emirate of Sharjah, which is the third largest emirate in UAE. The Emirate covers 2600 km2 (1003 square-miles) and had an official estimated population of over 800,000 in 2005 (UAE National Bureau of Statistics). It comprises the City of Sharjah (the seat of the emirate), and other minor towns and enclaves such as Kalba, Dibba Al-Hisn and Khor-Fakkan. City of Sharjah is one of the most densely-populated cities in the United Arab Emirates. This causes a high rate of accidents and results in many fatalities, injuries, and property damage in the Emirate.

Road traffic accidents trends in Sharjah 27

This paper adds to previous studies of highway safety in UAE. The objective of this paper is to describe quantitatively the extent of the road traffic accidents in the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE. Specifically, the paper will identify trends in these accidents during the period 2001 to 2014, using data routinely collected by police. This effort will help to establish the baseline facts about the extent of the accident problem in Sharjah; and therefore, the most useful direction for future research, policies, and programs on highway safety in Sharjah.

2 Materials and methods

To conduct this analysis, the researchers utilised data obtained from the official police reports on annual statistics of road traffic accidents in the Emirate of Sharjah for the 2001–2014 period. The collected data include annual summaries of road traffic accidents tabulated by:

1 Accident severity (fatal, critical injury, moderate injury, or minor injury)

2 Gender of driver causing accident (Male or Female)

3 Age of driver causing accident (< 18, 18–30, 30–45, 45–60, and > 60 years)

4 Nationality of driver causing accident

5 Vehicle classification (motorcycle, car, light truck, heavy truck, etc.)

6 Collision type

7 Accident cause

8 Education level of driver (Read and write, Primary school, Middle school, Secondary school, and University or higher)

9 Geographic area (Sharjah City, Khorfakan, Diba, Al Hisn, Kalbaa, Eastern Area, and AL-Thaid)

10 Time of day (Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night).

The last three types of data have been only reported starting 2008; and therefore, they were excluded from our analysis. Furthermore, investigation of fatalities and injuries by severity, gender, nationality, age, and road user type will be conducted and results will be presented in a forthcoming paper.

In Sharjah and UAE in general, officially-reported road traffic accidents include only accidents resulting in injury or fatality to road users (drivers, motorcyclists, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists). That is, property-damage-only accidents though recorded by police, their numbers are generally not readily available to the public. Road traffic accident injuries include all traffic-related non-fatal injuries, and generally classified as critical, moderate, or minor injury. Further, it is widely believed that only a very small number of accidents goes unreported in UAE. According to El-Sadiq et al. (2002), this could be attributed to strict police enforcement of a law requiring all parties involved to report any accident.

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Using the annual crude numbers of road traffic accidents and population estimates for Sharjah, the following rates were calculated: road traffic accident per 100,000 population, deaths per 100,000 population, and injuries per 100,000 population. These rates will make it easier to compare trends in Sharjah to other parts of the country, region, as well as other parts of the globe.

To quantify the risk of injury and fatality in road traffic accidents, the ratio of injuries and fatalities to accidents (i.e., severity rates of injury and death per 1000 accidents) was also calculated. The number of road traffic accidents, injuries, and fatalities were obtained from Sharjah Police annual statistical reports from 2001 to 2014. UAE population data were generally obtained from the UAE National Bureau of Statistics.

Official population estimates for Sharjah could not be found, except for year 2005 in which Sharjah’s population was about 19.33% of UAE’s total population (UAE Census 2005). Therefore, Sharjah population for the other years were simply estimated assuming the same percentage. For the nationality of driver responsible for causing the accident as well as the nationalities of those killed or injured, the police reports listed over a hundred nationalities. For the sake of this paper, the author grouped statistics from some nationalities together to simplify the presentation of the results. The data for comparison with other areas were obtained from the published literature.

Trends of road traffic accidents and their related deaths and injuries for 2001–2014 were estimated using linear regression analysis. The age and gender of road users injured or killed during 2001–2014 were also analysed. After 2008, the police started to publish summary reports containing some details of accident causal factors, from the police viewpoint, that contribute to traffic accidents in Sharjah. Therefore, this paper also describes some of these specific causal factors, including speeding, careless driving, personal factors (e.g. fatigue, driving under the effect of drugs, alcohol, etc.), environmental and vehicle conditions. Hence, the data for 2001–2014 were analysed to describe the possible factors. All data variables were processed, graphed, and analysed using Microsoft Excel.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Frequency of accidents, fatalities, and injuries

Figure 1 shows the crude numbers of accidents, fatalities, injuries, as well as population in Sharjah for the period 2001 to 2014. Whereas the population increased by almost 200% during this period, the number of injury/fatality causing accidents decreased by about 57%. Ironically, these declines were accompanied by an overall increase in the number of fatalities by almost 24%. The number of injuries decreased by more than 30% during the same period. As can be seen, while the number of causalities was almost stable the annual number of road accidents and injuries increased until the 2008 when the numbers suddenly declined then stabilised in recent years. This significant decrease can be attributed mainly to the introduction of the new unified traffic law of UAE, which tightened regulations and took some measures such as increasing fines, introducing black point system, and authorising the installation of mobile radar cameras. The noticeable reduction can also be partially attributed to the economic crisis and the consequent changes in traffic and driver behaviour.

Road traffic accidents trends in Sharjah 29

Figure 1 Number of accidents, fatalities, and Injuries in Sharjah, UAE during 2001–2014 (see online version for colours)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Fatalities 109 98 127 161 150 149 184 179 152 142 117 107 107 135

Injuries 1,2081,2511,4951,6391,6141,4551,312 905 1,144 939 836 856 831 830

Accidents 1,6501,6652,1742,2112,2852,1301,975 823 944 802 707 702 654 704

Population (1,000) 612 647 686 727 794 969 1,2021,5611,5851,5971,6451,6951,7461,798

y = ‐0.1912x + 138.36R² = 0.0009

y = ‐56.31x + 1587.7R² = 0.6028

y = ‐130.37x + 2365.4R² = 0.6509

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The trend analysis of these data using linear regression revealed the following: accidents decreased annually by 130.37 (R2 = 0.6509), injuries decreased annually by 56.31 (R2 = 0.6028), whereas fatalities annual decrease was insignificant (0.1912 with R2 = 0.0009). The almost-zero R-squared value indicates that the fatalities numbers are not following a linear trend but more of a random one. While the decreasing trends for accidents and injuries are definitely encouraging, the increasing fatalities rate is an alarming result since the number of fatalities did not fall in parallel.

3.2 Rates per 100,000 population and per 1000 accident

To put Sharjah’s accident safety record in perspective and to make a fair comparison between Sharjah and other areas, the author computed the following road accident rates: deaths per 100,000 population, deaths per 1000 accident, fatality-to-injury ratio, injury per 100,000 population, injury per 1000 accident, and finally accident per 100,000 population. Figures 2 and 3 summarise these basic indicators for the period 2001–2014.

Figure 2 shows the rates for deaths, injuries, and accidents per 100,000 population. Overall, the figure shows decreasing trends over the years, though it is less clear in case of deaths. The trend analysis of these data using linear regression revealed the following:

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accidents per 100,000 population decreased annually by 25.27 (R2 = 0.8205), injuries per 100,000 population decreased annually by 16.051 (R2 = 0.835), whereas fatalities per 100,000 population decreased annually by a mere 1.141 (R2 = 0.7903). Therefore, though the crude number of fatalities did not decrease, the trend of fatalities per 100,000 population did decrease over the years. This could be explained by the fact that while fatalities did not significantly decrease, the population still increased which resulted in an overall decrease in the fatalities per 100,000 population rate. Both injuries and accidents per 100,000 population showed the sudden, sharp drop occurred in 2008.

Figure 2 Sharjah fatalities, injuries, and accidents per 100,000 population during 2001–2014 (see online version for colours)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Death/100,000 Person 17.8 15.1 18.5 22.1 18.9 15.4 15.3 11.5 9.6 8.9 7.1 6.3 6.1 7.5

Injury/100,000 Person 197.3 193.2 217.8 225.4 203.4 150.2 109.1 58.0 72.2 58.8 50.8 50.5 47.6 46.2

Accident/100,000 person 269.5 257.2 316.7 304.1 287.9 219.9 164.3 52.7 59.6 50.2 43.0 41.4 37.5 39.2

y = ‐1.141x + 21.428R² = 0.7903

y = ‐16.051x + 240.42R² = 0.835

y = ‐25.272x + 342.62R² = 0.8205

‐50.0

0.0

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Figure 3 shows the rates for deaths and injuries per 1000 accidents. Overall, the figure shows a surprisingly increasing trend for both deaths and injuries per 1000 accidents. The trend analysis of these data using linear regression revealed the following: deaths per 1000 accident increased annually by 11.507 (R2 = 0.6944) and injuries 1000 accident increased annually by 52.173 (R2 = 0.7433). Unfortunately, these numbers indicate that the severity of accidents in Sharjah has been on the rise. The fatality-to-injury ratio, which is the number of fatalities to the number of injuries, showed an overall increasing trend growing from 8% in 2001 to reaching 14% in 2014. Interestingly, these trends are similar to these reported by El-Sadig et al. (2002), who also reported decreasing trends for accidents, fatalities, and injuries per 100,000 population in UAE for the period 1977 to 1998; and at the same time there was an overall increase in the rates of fatalities and accidents per 1000 accidents. In general, Sharjah enjoyed a better rate of fatalities per 100,000 population than that for the whole UAE: 9.59 vs. 37.1 in 2009 as well as 7.51 vs. 12.7 in 2013, in Sharjah and whole UAE, respectively.

Road traffic accidents trends in Sharjah 31

Figure 3 Sharjah fatalities and injuries per 1,000 accident and fatality-to-injury ratio during 2001–2014 (see online version for colours)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Death/1,000 Accident 66.1 58.9 58.4 72.8 65.6 70.0 93.2 217.5161.0177.1165.5152.4163.6191.8

Fatality:Injury 0.08 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.12 0.17 0.12 0.13 0.12 0.11 0.11 0.14

Injury/1,000 Accident 732.1751.4687.7741.3706.3683.1664.31,0991,2111,1701,1821,2191,2701,179

y = 11.507x + 36.11R² = 0.6944

y = 0.0046x + 0.0748R² = 0.5105

y = 52.173x + 558.7R² = 0.7433

0.0

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3.3 Variation by gender of accident-causing driver

In addition to the aforementioned highway safety rates, the author investigated the gender, age, and nationality of the driver responsible for causing the accident.

Figure 4 shows the distribution of accidents by gender of the accident-causing driver. The vast majority (an average of 89.66%) of accidents were caused by male drivers. This is unsurprising given that the UAE population is predominantly male, which according to UAE official statistics had only 25.4% female population in 2010. Nevertheless, the figure also reveals an interesting result: while female drivers caused only 5.27% of the accidents in 2001, they caused more than double of that (exactly 11.63%) in 2014 (after reaching about 23% in 2013). As can be clearly seen in Figure 4, the gap between male and female drivers causing accidents has narrowed significantly in 2008 and became more stable since then.

3.4 Variation by age of accident-causing driver

Figure 5 shows the distribution of accidents by age group of the accident-causing driver. Two age groups, 18–30 and 30–45 year-old, comprise together an average of about 85% of the accidents. This is in line with the fact that UAE’s population is mostly young since the vast majority of non-citizens (expatriates) in the country are young labourers and technicians. According to UAE Census 2005 data, about 68% of UAE total population were in the age of 19–44 year-old (UAE Census 2005). As can be seen in Figure 5, these two groups witnessed the foremost reductions in number of accidents in 2008, but stabilised since then. The third age group, 45–60 year-old, had seen also a noticeable reduction in the number of accidents in 2008. The last two age groups, the very young

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(less than 18 year-old) and the very old (older than 60 year-old), account together for about 2% of the accidents. Before 2008, less than 18-year-old drivers caused more accidents than those caused by drivers older than 60 year-old. This corresponds to the new traffic regulation which severely penalising driving without a proper driving licence, common among teenagers in the region.

Figure 4 Sharjah accidents by gender of driver responsible for accident during 2001–2014 (see online version for colours)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Male 1563 1569 2061 2091 2154 1995 1836 743 1106 711 625 757 721 623

Female 87 96 113 120 131 135 139 80 190 95 82 206 217 82

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Figure 5 Sharjah accidents by age of driver responsible for accident during 2001–2014 (see online version for colours)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

< 18 59 38 46 62 58 57 60 8 12 7 7 9 1 7

18‐30 807 769 936 1025 1066 1040 900 391 464 407 359 335 328 338

30‐45 600 605 849 897 877 782 785 294 327 280 242 259 237 282

45‐60 169 219 288 214 253 239 205 103 100 89 75 82 66 60

> 60 15 34 55 13 31 12 25 12 25 14 19 8 19 11

Unknown 15 16 5 5 9 3 6

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Road traffic accidents trends in Sharjah 33

3.5 Variation by nationality of accident-causing driver

Figure 6 shows the distribution of accidents by nationality group of the accident-causing driver. While the police reports listed number of accidents caused by drivers from over 100 nationalities, the author grouped the accidents by 11 groups, as listed in Figure 6. Three nationality groups topped the list, causing together an average of about 84% of all accidents in Sharjah. These groups are: UAE citizens causing about 27%, Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) nationals causing about 37%, and other Arab countries (excluding GCC countries) nationals causing about 20% of Sharjah’s accidents. According to UAE Census 2005 data, UAE citizens made up about 17.4% of Sharjah’s population (UAE Census 2005); however, they caused an alarming 27% of the accidents.

Figure 6 Sharjah accidents by nationality of driver responsible for accident during 2001–2014 (see online version for colours)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

UAE 525 468 593 553 544 482 442 202 287 236 197 201 212 183

Other GCC 78 44 53 56 51 46 39 17 24 19 15 23 18 19

Other Arab 296 328 421 433 455 488 436 168 186 165 145 141 129 152

Iran & Afganistan 44 48 62 71 74 69 51 28 15 142 17 36 14 24

Indian Subcontinent 615 643 751 754 890 838 802 337 361 189 275 250 238 275

Other Asian & Oceania 11 26 27 30 35 43 57 9 15 16 23 20 15 14

Russia & Central Asia 16 18 21 17 19 24 24 4 4 16 1 2 1 6

Other African 8 5 5 14 11 25 19 6 7 2 3 7 15 10

Europe 11 11 12 20 24 22 11 8 10 6 6 5 4 10

North & South America 1 2 8 12 6 9 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1

Unspecified 45 72 221 251 176 84 90 41 32 8 23 16 7 11

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Even though the UAE National Bureau of Statistics does not publish demographic data by nationality, unofficial estimates put the population from the three east-southern countries to about 47% of the population (UAE Census 2005); nevertheless, this population group caused only 37% of the accidents. The third largest group (other Arab countries excluding GCC countries nationals) unofficially make up about 12% of the population but still caused about 20% of the accidents. The decrease of accidents in 2008 is noticeable across almost all population groups.

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3.6 Variation by classification of accident-causing vehicle

Figure 7 shows the distribution of accidents by classification of vehicle responsible for accident. This does not include the class of any other vehicle(s) affected in the accident other than that driven by the driver responsible for the accident at the time he/she caused the accident. Cars (including taxis) caused about 85% of all accidents. This is expected given that cars make up most of the registered cars in Sharjah. Heavy trucks, light trucks, and motorcycles made up each about 3% of Sharjah’s accidents. Overall, the numbers of car-caused accidents have dropped by about 59% between 2001 and 2014. The significant reduction of accidents in 2008 can be easily noticed in cars and to less extent in light and heavy trucks. Numbers of accidents caused by motorcycles, minibuses (used heavily by companies and schools), and buses have seen more of a randomly fluctuating trend rather than following any linear, decreasing trend. Numbers of accidents caused by trucks (especially heavy trucks) have been noticeably decreasing since 2008. Interestingly, the number of accidents with unclassified vehicle reported has been rising. Therefore, more effort should be exerted to ensure that the vehicle type is reported.

Figure 7 Sharjah accidents by classification of vehicle responsible for accident during 2001–2014 (see online version for colours)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Bicycle 26 17 20 32 39 33 37

Motorcycle 24 24 34 59 52 50 52 41 39 37 26 39 22 34

Car 1445 1483 1897 1931 1977 1827 1626 640 760 652 594 604 569 585

Minibus 18 7 20 13 11 21 25 18 13 8 17 8 13 20

Bus 1 6 12 6 10 17 11 8 7 3 7 6 6 12

Light Truck 52 40 87 50 72 81 98 6 14 8 8 9 7 3

Heavy Truck 66 79 92 103 107 89 106 50 42 26 18 10 15 15

Other  19 9 12 17 17 12 20 60 69 68 37 30 23 35

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3.7 Variation by collision type

Figure 8 shows the distribution of accidents by collision type. While one can notice the dramatic reduction in many collision types since 2008, the number of run-over collisions has not seen any noticeable decrease. On average, run-over collisions are about 25% of

Road traffic accidents trends in Sharjah 35

all accidents, and remain the number one leading collision type. Knowing that this type of accidents is mostly a vehicle-pedestrian collision, this means that many pedestrians are still at high risk in Sharjah. Sideswipe collisions and collisions with fixed object that used to be on top of the list have abruptly decreased in 2008. These three collision types make up combined an average of about 61% of all accidents. Figure 8 also shows that head-on collisions, often a fatal type of collision, have shown unfortunately a slight increase over the years.

Figure 8 Sharjah accidents by collision type during 2001–2014 (see online version for colours)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Collision with Fixed Object 391 390 474 534 525 516 453 69 77 91 64 75 56 65

Run‐over 243 248 275 323 348 347 424 326 316 274 275 231 223 239

Rollover 93 123 106 147 118 97 85 70 109 81 44 70 57 69

Animal–vehicle collision 107 76 114 83 99 58 63 12 7 18 19 13 6 14

Run‐off‐road collision 7 6 31 7 12 9 13 5 4 2 2 0 4 0

Perpendicular collision  208 179 209 262 279 195 183 85 81 57 46 54 44 41

Collision while turning  38 33 46 54 71 54 55 10 9 5 10 11 9 18

Sideswipe collision 325 360 577 483 533 549 390 132 164 132 111 112 122 121

Rear‐end collision 220 218 306 301 284 276 290 38 28 8 18 20 19 21

Head‐on collision 18 32 36 17 16 29 19 26 38 35 31 29 20 27

Back‐up collision 33 81 75 70 62 63 55

Other 17 24 43 17 30 24 17 25 31 34

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3.8 Variation by causal factor

Figure 9 shows the distribution of accidents by cause of accident as reported by police officer on site. The number one cause of accidents in Sharjah remains the failure of driver to give way (priority) for oncoming vehicles. Turning/cornering/merging is number two cause of accident, which unfortunately is in the rise. Another driver-behaviour cause of accident which witnessed a consistent increase is driver’s carelessness. An interesting observation confirmed by Figure 9 is that the number of accidents caused by running red-light has significantly decreased over the years. This could be attributed to the city-wide installation of red-light-running cameras in Sharjah. On the other hand, accidents caused by drivers while under the influence of drugs or alcohol have been rising since 2008, the year at which this data has started to be reported. This may prompt officials to take a more rigorous action against driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

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Figure 9 Sharjah accidents by causal factor during 2001–2014 (see online version for colours)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Give priority 552 519 657 719 780 542 529 201 226 235 228 191 172 186

Crossing lane 240 273 428 407 435 356 249 53 69 69 54 57 49 65

Turning/Cornering or Merging 191 177 219 226 257 198 191 156 216 168 150 152 148 156

Tailgating 162 188 248 273 251 195 217 55 85 53 57 55 55 49

Disregarding red light 105 114 118 115 122 74 53 22 18 8 4 3 7 8

Excessive speeding 239 225 259 237 241 173 149 38 42 28 36 36 20 28

Carelessness 57 29 26 123 57 114 102 222 180 126 91 112 108 113

Driving under influence 21 37 53 38 54 49 51

Tire 23 40 27 30 27 15 16 6 7 2 7 4 7 5

Other 81 100 192 81 115 463 469 54 62 64 43 35 39 40

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4 Conclusion

This paper explored road traffic accidents trends in the Emirate of Sharjah, the third largest emirate in United Arab Emirates, for the period 2001–2014. While other researchers tackled highway safety issues in UAE in general, this paper is the first to focus its analysis on Sharjah and to describe quantitatively the extent of the roadway traffic accidents in the Emirate.

Towards this, the researcher utilised official police reports on annual statistics of road traffic accidents in the Emirate of Sharjah for the 2001–2014 period. Accidents publicly reported include only accidents resulting in injury or fatality to road users (drivers, motorcyclists, passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists).

The paper explored trends using the following variables: (1) crude numbers of accidents, fatalities, and injuries; (2) rates per 100,000 population and per 1000 accidents; (3) gender of accident-causing driver; (4) age of accident-causing driver; (5) nationality of accident-causing driver; (6) classification of accident-causing vehicle; (7) collision type; and (8) accident causal factor.

Several interesting findings were revealed by this analysis. While Sharjah’s population almost doubled during 2001–2014 period, the number of injury/fatality causing accidents decreased by more than half during the same period. Interestingly, these declines were accompanied by an overall increase in the number of fatalities. The annual number of road accidents and injuries increased until the 2008 when the numbers

Road traffic accidents trends in Sharjah 37

sharply declined then stabilised in recent years. This significant decrease could be attributed mainly to the introduction of the new unified traffic law of UAE, which tightened regulations and applied tougher fines for violators.

To fairly compare Sharjah’s accident safety record to other areas, road accident rates per 100,000 population and per 1000 accidents were calculated. These rates showed that while both accidents and injuries per 100,000 population considerably decreased annually, the fatalities per 100,000 population only marginally decreased. Therefore, though the crude number of fatalities did not decrease, the trend of fatalities per 100,000 population did decrease over the years. This could be explained by the fact that while fatalities did not significantly decrease, the population still increased which resulted in an overall decrease in the fatalities per 100,000 population rate. Both injuries and accidents per 100,000 population showed the sudden, sharp drop occurred in 2008. Surprisingly, deaths and injuries per 1,000 accidents showed increasing trends for both. Unfortunately, these numbers indicate that the severity of accidents in Sharjah has been in the rise. Further, the fatality-to-injury ratio showed an overall increasing trend. In general, Sharjah enjoyed a better rate of fatalities per 100,000 population than that for the whole UAE.

As expected, the vast majority of accidents were caused by male drivers. However, the gap between male and female drivers causing accidents has narrowed significantly in since 2008. Drivers between age of 18 and 45 years caused the vast majority of the accidents. This is unsurprising given that UAE’s population is mostly young since the vast majority of non-citizens in the country are young labourers. The number of accidents made by less than 18-year-old drivers has decreased since 2008. Three nationality groups caused the vast majority of the accidents in Sharjah: UAE citizens, Indian subcontinent nationals, and other Arab countries (excluding GCC countries) nationals. This was not unexpected given that these three groups make up most of UAE’s population.

As expected, cars (including taxis) caused the vast majority of all accidents. The significant reduction in the number of accidents in 2008 can be easily noticed in cars and to less extent in trucks. Numbers of accidents caused by motorcycles, minibuses, and buses have not seen any decreasing trend. Numbers of accidents caused by trucks (especially heavy trucks) have been noticeably decreasing since 2008. Unfortunately, the leading collision type, run-over collisions which mostly involves a vehicle-pedestrian collision, has not seen any noticeable decrease. Another unfortunate finding was that the often-fatal head-on collisions, have shown a slight increase over the years. The three top causes of accidents that have shown consistent increase are all related to driver behaviour: the failure of driver to give way (priority) for oncoming vehicles, turning/ cornering/ merging, and driver’s carelessness. Interestingly, the number of accidents caused by running red-light has significantly decreased over the years. This could be attributed to the installation of red-light-running cameras. Further, accidents caused by drivers while under the influence of drugs or alcohol have been rising since 2008.

Finally, this paper established baseline facts about the extent of the accident problem in Sharjah; and therefore, its results could be useful to identify direction to undertake future research, policies, and programs on highway safety in Sharjah.

38 K. Hamad

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