DUBAI — Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), has highlighted the importance of RTA’s efforts to improve traffic safety, as well as pedestrian safety. He took note of the impact of building footbridges, which reduced pedestrian fatalities by 76.5% between 2007 and 2019. Al Tayer also said pedestrian fatalities in Dubai dropped from 9.5 cases per 100,000 (145 cases) in 2007 to 0.59 cases per 100,000 (34 cases) in 2019. "The number of footbridges constructed in Dubai soared from 13 bridges in 2006 to 116 bridges in 2020. RTA plans to build another 34 footbridges during the period 2021-2026, which will bring the total number of pedestrian bridges to 150 bridges," he noted. "In 2018 and 2019, RTA completed the construction of three pedestrian bridges on Sheikh Zayed Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Al Khawaneej and Al Marabi’ streets. “In 2020 and 2021, RTA will build seven other pedestrian bridges at King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Street, Latifa Bin Hamdan Street, Khalid Bin Al Waleed Street, two bridges on Al Asayel Street, Al Awir Street, Baniyas Street and Al Khawaneej Street," added Al Tayer. "Traffic safety performance indicators and targets reflect a drop in pedestrian fatalities on streets that used to have high accident rates," he further stated. The number of traffic-related fatalities on Sheikh Zayed Road dropped from 5 cases in 2018 to one case in 2019. The number of pedestrian fatalities dropped from four cases to one case on Emirates Road, and from three cases to zero at the Al Quoz Industrial Area during the same period. "The assessment of the impact of pedestrian bridges constructed on eight key streets of Dubai during the three years before and the three years after the construction of such bridges showed a drop in the number of pedestrian fatalities in the vicinity of those bridges, from four cases to zero. The number of run-over accidents also dropped, from 20 to one accident," Al Tayer said. He called upon the citizens of Dubai, along with residents and visitors, to use pedestrian bridges and subways designated for crossing streets. He also asked motorists to observe speed limits and slow down when approaching pedestrian areas. — WAM