DUBAI: Up to 45 percent of road accidents in the UAE are caused by drivers in the 18 to 30 age group, RoadSafetyUAE, an organization collaborating with stakeholders, including the government, to reduce road fatalities, said, citing figures from the Ministry of Interior (MOI).
In a media advisory, RoadSafetyUAE said the figure is higher in Abu Dhabi or 63 percent of the mishaps as well as 34 percent of all road traffic fatalities.
Thomas Edelmann, RoadSafetyUAE managing director said young drivers “behave more dangerously and protect themselves less than older and more experienced motorists.”
“Young drivers are significantly more distracted, tailgate more, use their indictors and their seat belts less than the average motorist,” Edelmann said.
He said running late is often a “key ingredient both in speeding and tailgating.”
“A lack of a caring attitude can be observed by statements like having less empathy for tailgated motorists, indicating less out of habit or not wanting to appear inexperienced, less demanding towards passengers and children to use their seat belts, which is coupled with a significantly lower level of knowledge about the new seat belt law,” Edelmann said.
He said that though the official MOI figures refer to the broader age bracket of 18-30 years old drivers, RoadSafetyUAE focused on the novice driver segment of 18-24 years in its broad behavior studies which was started in 2015 to provide an opportunity to compare the behavior of the young novice driver segment with the total driving population.
The research projects were conducted by an international on-line research company by using UAE-representative samples of n>1,000 between 2015 and 2018. (AETOSWire)
