Two men, both 19, were killed when the driver lost control of the vehicle due to high speed.
Two young Emirati men succumbed to fatal injuries they received in a gruesome traffic accident on Saturday evening.
A senior police officer said the mishap took place on the Seeh Al Bana road in the direction of Khat roundabout close to the emirate of Fujairah.
Col Ali Saeed Al Alaikam, Director of the Traffic and Patrols Department of the RAK Police, on Sunday said the motorist and young man travelling with him were killed a few minutes after the accident.
“Initial investigations show that the accident was blamed on the motorist who was driving at a high speed, exceeding the set limit.”
Adding, he said the 19-year-old motorist, identified simply as S.A.A, lost control over the steering wheel basically due to high speed and veered off the road.
“The victim’s car seriously turned over several times that the motorist, and the young man in his company, were thrown out of the car which was totally damaged.”
The victim’s friend, 19-year-old A.A.R., received grave injuries and fractures all over his body and intensive internal bleeding, and died on the spot.
“Though the ambulance and rescue teams rushed to the site in record time, the duo was already dead. Their corpses were shifted to the morgue of the hospital for burial procedures by relatives.”
Col Al Alaikam offered deep condolences to the families of the victims, and urged all motorists, particularly the young, to abide by speed limits on internal roads and highways.
“All motorists should be focused on the road and never be distracted while driving to protect their lives and road users’ as well.”
Official statistics show that Emirati motorists were blamed for some 55 per cent of the traffic accidents registered in the northern emirate last year, and most of these mishaps were due to speeding and racing.
According to a study sponsored by the Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy in 2011, young Emiratis’ attitudes, values, and response to peer pressure proved to be behind the alarming number of UAE car accidents, injuries and fatalities.
The findings showed that up to a quarter of young Emirati males admit that they engage in risky driving practices. Half of the young Emirati males, who participated in the sample, stated that they are engaged in one or more risky and/or illegal driving practices: not putting on a seatbelt, using mobile phone while driving, stopping car in inner lane to chat with another driver and driving in the wrong direction down a one-way street.
Safety measures which drivers are advised to observe, although not legally binding, are not popular among Emirati young males, the study adds. They eat and drink while driving, do not use indicators to indicate direction, and do not use a hands-free set if engaged in conversation on a mobile phone.
