UAE Roads Are Becoming Less Dangerous – ‘UAE Road Safety Monitor’ (6th cycle)

•    6th cycle of the unique perception study of UAE motorists

•    All dimensions of dangerous driving decline

•    Commute times and traffic accidents decrease

•    Despite positive trends, the absolute levels of perceived misbehavior are still high

•    Room for improvement: overall driving enjoyment and road infrastructure

United Arab Emirates, 12 March 2018, (AETOSWire): The 6th cycle of the unique ‘UAE Road Safety Monitor’ delivers very positive trends for UAE’s road safety. It seems that the perception of UAE motorists goes hand-in-hand with the remarkable reduction of traffic fatalities in 2017, down by about 30% vs. 2016, according to media reports quoting MOI data.

The long-term ‘UAE Road Safety Monitor’ survey which started in 2015 links the perception of UAE motorists to the main causes of road accidents. Perception counts! Hence, this perception study provides valuable feedback about the impact of the involved stakeholders’ efforts aimed at increasing road safety.

Thomas Edelmann, Managing Director of RoadSafetyUAE states: “It seems that the ongoing and hard work of all stakeholders like governmental entities, the media, corporations and platforms like RoadSafetyUAE have started bearing fruit. UAE motorists perceive less dangerous driving, less lane swerving, less tailgating, less speeding and less distracted driving on our roads.”

Frederik Bisbjerg, Executive Vice President Retail i-Insured adds: “All this is really good news! However, despite these positive trends, more needs to be done, as the absolute levels of perceived misbehavior are still high. The dedicated work of all stakeholders must continue, especially with regards to educating UAE’s road users by creating more awareness for proper conduct.”

Commute times - a constant hot topic, keep decreasing for 5 cycles in a row. Very positive is also the reduction in the number of motorists having been involved in traffic accidents.

For the last 2 cycles and reversing long-term trends, UAE motorists lament a reduction in overall driving enjoyment and also wish for further improvements in road infrastructure.

The highlights of the 6th cycle of the ‘UAE Road Safety Monitor’:

UAE motorists record the following healthy perception trends during the last 6 months:

-    Dangerous driving overall: -3%

-    Lane Swerving: -11%

-    Distracted driving: -9%

-    Speeding: -8%

-    Tailgating: -5%

-    Involved in a collision: -1%

-    Commute times: -10%

However, it must be stated that despite the positive TRENDS through the 6 cycles of the survey, the ABSOLUTE levels of perceived misbehavior are still high.

The positive trends stated above are contrasted by trend reversals with regards to:

-    Driving Enjoyment: -6%

-    Improvement in Traffic infrastructure: -10%

The study was commissioned by i-Insured and RoadSafetyUAE and was conducted by YouGov in February 2018, based on the views of a representative sample of 1,004 UAE residents.

The details of the UAE Road Safety Monitor can be found in the ‘featured’ section on: http://www.roadsafetyuae.com/statistics/. The study will be repeated every six months with the next scheduled release in mid Q3/2018.