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

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.