UAE mulls banning mini buses for passengers

The UAE is considering banning mini buses from transporting passengers within a strategy to curb accidents and reduce road deaths, the country’s top traffic officer was reported on Monday as saying.

Major Mohammed Saif Al Zafin, Chairman of the Federal Traffic Council who is also Dubai's Assistant Police Commander-in-Chief, said the proposal to ban mini buses is intended to reduce accidents on roads on the grounds they are not safe.

“The council has made a set of proposals designed to reduce the road death rate. They mainly include banning the use of minibuses in transporting passengers because they are dangerous for the passengers’ lives in case they travel fast. They are not safe to transport 14 passengers,” he said, quoted by Dubai-based 'Emarat Al Youm'.

He said speeding has remained a major cause of fatal accidents in the UAE, accounting for nearly 35 per cent of the total annual traffic mishaps last year.

His figures showed speeding caused 63 deaths out of a total 177 deaths in 2014 and 52 deaths out of a total 122 casualties in the first nine months of this year.

“Speeding is not general linked to age but to the driver’s personal behavior and culture. That is why we have again recommended to cut the age of those eligible for a driving licence to 17 years,” he said.