ABU DHABI // A road safety campaign was launched yesterday in an attempt to reduce the emirate's "alarmingly high" rate of traffic fatalities.
An average of 38 people die in vehicle wrecks every month, officials said. And as 15 per cent of all deaths in the emirate are linked to traffic accidents - yet only 11 per cent of Emiratis wear seat belts - health officials and police say action is needed.
Dr Ahmed al Mazrouei, chairman of the Health Authority - Abu Dhabi (HAAD), said that 27.4 deaths per 100,000 was an unacceptable rate and that something needed to be done to bring the numbers down.
"The fatality rate is particularly high among the younger male population," said Dr al Mazrouei.
"This is alarmingly high rate, and we need to educate and encourage our younger citizens about road safety."
According to HAAD figures, 89 per cent of those who die on the roads are men, most of them young.
And even among expatriates, only 44 per cent wear seat belts, according to UAE University. Last year 430 people died on the roads, and 69 per cent of injury deaths in the emirate were caused by traffic accidents.
Dr Oliver Harrison, head of public health at HAAD, said the authority will work closely with police and other agencies to get to the root of the problem.
Part of the programme will be a central system that all the trouble spots in the emirate and disseminates the information to any agency that needs it. Police cars will be fitted with GPS systems to track where accidents occur.
That way all the agencies can strategically plan responses, which will reduce the number of accidents and deaths, officials said.
It will also help identify, for example, where ambulances should be stationed.
"The police will be introducing GPS systems, and they will literally press a button which feeds back to a central system and shows where the accident has happened," Dr Harrison said. "We can all combine resources."
A substantial advertising campaign will try to educate the public as well, officials said.
High-profile spots on television and in cinemas, plus print adverts, will feature Sheikh Khaled Al Qassimi, the BP-Ford Abu Dhabi world rally team driver.
He said he had personally seen the devastating effects of speeding on public roads.
"Everyone here knows someone who has had an accident and died on the roads, including myself," Sheikh Khaled said. "Within the last couple of years, I wanted to know what happens and why and see what we can do to stop it."
Health officials said they hoped that using a popular role model would help the message about dangerous driving sink in.
"If I use my rallying skill on the road, it will cost me my life," Sheikh Khaled said. "Speeding can be like a drug: once you start, it is hard to stop.
"There is a fine line. In the roads in the city you cannot avoid things if you are not driving safely. It could be a tree, a lamppost, or a life."
A joint review committee will meet regularly to examine the success of the campaign.
Dr Harrison said it would address the emirate's road system, street furniture and lighting to help identify potential danger zones.
Zaid al Siksek, chief executive of HAAD, said the campaign is part of a larger goal of improving the overall health of the emirate.
"Our aim is to successfully educate the youth, achieve behavioural changes and self-motivate them to drive safely, substantially reducing injuries on the roads," Mr al Siksek said. People ages 25 to 29 form the largest segment of the emirate's population, according to HAAD. They also make up the majority of those killed on the roads.
Dr Jens Thomsen, section head of occupational and environmental health, said the number of deaths was "unacceptably high".
"We are aware that our road safety campaign is a colossal mission and a long, arduous journey," he said.
"But the results are also huge by any standards - in social terms, in economic terms and more importantly, in terms of the number of lives we can save."
Dr Harrison said the number of deaths per capita among Emiratis was four times higher than that of non-Emiratis. The number of deaths by age also peaks two to three years after people pass their driving test.
Those killed "are often young men and often young husbands", Dr Harrison said.
"They should be playing an active role for another 25 or 30 years into the future. Instead they are being robbed from their families and society."
Last July, The National reported that first aid training would be a compulsory part of driving tests in the emirate.
Dr Harrison said that these plans were still going ahead, but that nothing had been implemented.
munderwood@thenational.ae
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Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Company%20Profile
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The%20specs%20
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SPEC%20SHEET
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Rain Management
Year started: 2017
Based: Bahrain
Employees: 100-120
Amount raised: $2.5m from BitMex Ventures and Blockwater. Another $6m raised from MEVP, Coinbase, Vision Ventures, CMT, Jimco and DIFC Fintech Fund
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Uefa Awards winners
Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
Best players of the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League
Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)
Defender: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Company%20profile%20
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First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
The Florida Project
Director: Sean Baker
Starring: Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe
Four stars
Mountain%20Boy
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Zainab%20Shaheen%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Naser%20Al%20Messabi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The biog:
Languages: Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, basic Russian
Favourite food: Pizza
Best food on the road: rice
Favourite colour: silver
Favourite bike: Gold Wing, Honda
Favourite biking destination: Canada
HOSTS
T20 WORLD CUP
2024: US and West Indies; 2026: India and Sri Lanka; 2028: Australia and New Zealand; 2030: England, Ireland and Scotland
ODI WORLD CUP
2027: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia; 2031: India and
Bangladesh
CHAMPIONS TROPHY
2025: Pakistan; 2029: India
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
