Characteristics of injury crashes in Dubai, UAE

The global road safety situation is briefly reviewed then focus is brought to the rapidly developing Middle-Eastern country of the United Arab Emirates, and specifically to the emirate and city of Dubai. Road safety is analysed using recent injury crash case files collected from the authorities for the twelve year period (1995-2006). Some of the key problems found were the high overall severity of crashes and high propensity of pedestrian and single-vehicle crashes. Speeding was found to be the second most common reported cause. Countermeasures were reviewed for effectiveness and selected to match these problem areas. The effectiveness of these countermeasures was used to calculate an estimated reduction in crashes or casualties. Once this improvement in road safety was calculated, an economic calculation of cost savings was possible using UK crash costings from published material by the UK Department for Transport. The overall cost savings are found to be significant by any standard, amounting to £350m or AED2.1bn (Dirhams – the local UAE currency). This method can be extended and refined with more detailed crash data. It can also be validated with before/after studies if/when these measures are adopted locally