Campaign launched to reduce road crashes in Sharjah

Sharjah: Police on Sunday launched a year-long traffic campaign to reduce the number of accidents
in the city — which averages 350 a day — as well as road fatalities, a senior police official announced.
"In line with the launch of the campaign, we also formed a committee to control the traffic movement in the city in co-operation with Anjad traffic patrol and the Traffic and Licensing Department," said Colonel Mohammad Eid Al Madhloum, head of Operations Control Room at Sharjah Police.
Road repairs
Speaking at a press conference, Al Madhloum said another committee had also been formed. The committee's responsibility will be to provide a detailed update to the Directorate of Public Works in Sharjah on which roads need to be maintained and repaired.
"The committee will also supervise the new campaign that aims to curb traffic violations, which will be carried out by stopping motorists who do not wear a seat belt, who have children less than ten years old sitting in the front seat, and those who talk on the mobile phone without a hands-free set," explained Al Madhloum.
The campaign will also curb car racing on the roads as it tended to increase during the winter months, he noted. Recently, police said they had received a lot of complaints about car racing as it disturbed the peace and caused accidents.
Traffic violations
Al Madhloum further explained that an average of 350 accidents, including major and minor accidents, occurred per day and that an average of 1,000 traffic violations were committed per day. He pointed out that traffic violations were the main cause for deadly accidents.
Driving with children
The police launched a traffic campaign on Sunday, designed to raise awareness about precautions motorists should take if they have children as passengers. Pamphlets will be distributed and those who are driving recklessly will have their vehicles impounded accordingly.

Police said they would also issue fines against jaywalkers. "Run-over accidents are concentrated in the industrial areas, mainly due to the lack of traffic awareness by workers who live in the areas," said Colonel Mohammad Eid Al Madhloum, head of Operations Control Room at Sharjah Police.