Abstract
AIMS: To investigate the main causes and consequences of road traffic injuries (RTIs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the effect of traffic fines on these injuries. 
 
 METHODS: This cross-sectional study analysed road traffic deaths and injuries and panel data of monthly traffic accident fines from 2012 to 2016 in the UAE. A fixed-effects (FE) model was used to determine the factors associated with RTIs over time. The FE model removes the effect of time-invariant aspects from the independent variables, thus assessing the net impact of the independent variables on the outcome variable. The independent variables were dangerous driving behaviors defined as a sudden turn, neglect and lack of attention, and excess speed. The outcome variables were the total number of road traffic deaths and injuries.
 
 RESULTS: Road traffic deaths, severe injuries, and moderate injuries remained constant from 2012 to 2016 but mild injuries decreased starting 2013. Human errors such as a sudden turn (22%), excess speed (12%) and lack of road user appreciation (12%) play a central role in road traffic injuries. The number of fines issued to drivers (66% for speeding) increased by 50% in the five year period. 
 
 CONCLUSION: Road traffic injuries in the UAE remained stable from 2012 to 2016 despite an increase in traffic fines issued to drivers. Human errors continue to be a major cause of these injuries. Additional enforcement strategies are needed to address this health burden.
Highlights
Every day more than 3,600 lives are lost due to fatal road traffic injuries (RTIs), resulting in more than 1.3 million deaths per year (Khalil et al, 2018)
In this study RTI data and panel data on traffic fines for the years 2012 to 2016 were analyzed using a fixed effect regression to determine the causes of these injuries and the effect of fines on the number of deaths and injuries
We found RTI deaths and severe/moderate injuries remained constant over the five year period, despite the increase in fines
Summary
Every day more than 3,600 lives are lost due to fatal road traffic injuries (RTIs), resulting in more than 1.3 million deaths per year (Khalil et al, 2018). RTIs in 2016 caused a loss of 10 million years of life lost due to disability and 64 million disability-adjusted life years (GBD Collaborators on Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence, 2017). The road traffic injury deaths in the Region have increased 27% from 1990 to 2016 (GBD Collaborators on Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence, 2017). This is relevant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in deaths and in serious injuries. There has been a 454% increase in disability adjusted life years due to RTIs from 1990 to 2016 in the UAE (GBD Collaborators on Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence, 2017).
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