As many as 11 pedestrians were run over on Ajman roads over the last four months, and worryingly nine of them were labourers, indicating at a lack of traffic awareness among blue collar works as well as fewer pedestrian crossings on busy roads.
The numbers were revealed by an Ajman Police report, which has identified jaywalking as a serious issue.
Ajman Police have now decided to slap a penalty of Dh200 against jaywalkers and are also planning on running more awareness campaigns.
Though the report showed a decrease in the number of accidents, including the number of runover cases, when compared with the first quarter of this year with 2010, the number is still quite huge for such a small emirate.
In the first quarter of this year, the total number of accidents reached 3,968, including serious and minor accidents, when compared to 4,273 reported in the same period last year, showing a 7 per cent decline.
The report reveals that in the previous year, the number of fatal accidents reached 60 during the same period, while this year the number declined to 48, registering a 28 per cent decline.
Of the 11 runover victims this year, four succumbed to death while the remaining survived with injuries.
The number of has come down from 27 in the same period last year to 11, which is a positive sign and according to Colonel Ali Saeed Al Matrooshi, Director of the Accident Section at the Ajman Traffic and Licensing Department the drop is a result of joint efforts with the municipality in running campaigns as well as building pedestrian brigdes.
In 2009, the total number of deaths in runover accidents was 13, of them 11 were Asian labourers and two Arab nationals, While in 2008, 20 Asians and two Arabs were killed in runover accidents.
“Most of these accidents occurred on Sheikh Khalifa Road and in the industrial areas, where majority of the labourers live or work and in many of these reported accidents, pedestrians had jumped over the road barricade to cross roads. We found that a huge number of pedestrians, particularly labourers who come from countries with different rules and regulations, randomly cross roads,” informed Al Matrooshi.
“They usually underestimate the distance between them and the car moving on the road thinking that they can safely cross the road. Many pedestrians cross roads without making sure it is empty, he added.”
He noted that victims of runover accidents usually die or lose limbs.
He said that if more pedestrian bridges are constructed in the industrial areas, the number of road accidents is expected to decrease further.
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