Abu Dhabi Police Campaign to Reduce Tyre Related Accidents

The Abu Dhabi Police’s traffic and patrol department has recorded 1,056 offences relating to faulty tyres since the launch of a safe travel campaign on June 1. Citing burst tyres as one of the main reasons for fatal accidents, Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Al Shehi, director of the Capital Traffic Department, told Dubai based newspaper Gulf News that three people were killed and 72 people were injured, eight seriously, in tyre-related accidents between January 1 to June 30 this year. In 2007, such accidents claimed the lives of 24 people, while 152 people were injured – 29 seriously.

The traffic and patrol department has also launched an awareness campaign targeting motorists planning to return to their home countries by land to during the holiday period. Major Ahmad Abdullah Al Shamsi, head of the department’s western region, said motorists should be more careful while driving on the 70-kilometre stretch between Ghuwaifat in the UAE and Jarf in Saudi Arabia, advising that air pressure in tyres increases enormously during long distance driving and in hot weather, which increases the risk of burst tyres.