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After deadly Emirates Road crash, UAE experts explain why minibuses pose higher risks
Experts agree that vehicle safety is only half the problem. Driver behaviour, fatigue, and poor fleet management play equally critical roles
- PUBLISHED: Sun 14 Jun 2026, 6:00 AM UPDATED: Sun 14 Jun 2026, 10:19 AM
The safety of minibuses and the risks they pose to passengers in the event of an accident have once again become a topic of discussion among road safety experts in the UAE. This comes after a tragic crash on Emirates Road on June 8 that claimed seven lives and left nine others injured.
Road safety expert and founder of MA Traffic Consulting, Mustafa Aldah, has been studying crashes in the UAE, and he recalled that minibuses have consistently been a source of concern. “In 2006, I started looking at crashes in Dubai, and ever since I remember, minibuses and these small vans have been an issue,” he said.
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He pointed out that Major General Mohammed Saif Al Zafeen, former Chairman of the Federal Traffic Council (FTC), had been a critic of minibuses and had lobbied for a ban on folding seats in minibuses—a practice that once allowed vans to carry up to 14, or even 17, passengers dangerously close together.
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In 2019, the FTC recommended to the Ministry of Interior (MoI) that all passenger minibuses be banned from UAE roads, citing reports showing they were involved in 15 per cent of all road fatalities in the country. In 2016, Dubai banned the the use of minibuses as school vehicles.
Not sturdy enough
Thomas Edelmann, founder of RoadSafetyUAE, has been equally vocal about the dangers. He noted that minibuses lack basic safety features, have structures that are not sturdy enough, and seat passengers too close to each other.
“The capacity of 14 passengers is too big for minibuses. These vehicles are not stable enough on the roads and therefore not good for passengers’ safety,” he said. He also noted that, unlike regular buses, minibuses lack emergency exits and advanced safety technologies such as collision warning systems.
Beyond the design flaws, the financial toll is high. Aldah pointed to the cost of these accidents. He estimated that each road fatality costs the UAE economy between Dh6 million and Dh9 million in lost productivity, medical expenses, and other factors. “The insurance companies also have a strong incentive to ensure their clients follow best safety practices,” he noted.
But beyond economics, he emphasised the human toll. “The people who pay the price are the labourers,” he said. “Unfortunately, we take safety for granted — until it’s too late.”
Driver behaviour
Experts agree that vehicle safety is only half the problem. Driver behaviour, fatigue, and poor fleet management play equally critical roles.
“By my estimate, maybe 90 per cent of traffic on the roads is due to businesses—people being transported to work sites, deliveries, driving for work,” Aldah said. “But here, we don’t distinguish driving for work from driving for leisure. If we regulate driving for work, we go a long way towards improving safety for everyone.”
Edelmann has called for a three-pronged approach: education, enforcement, and engineering. His recommendations include mandatory three-point seat belts, black-box telematics, fleet management systems, lane departure warnings, and emergency brake assist for all minibuses.
He also advocates for a special Commercial Driver Certification for drivers transporting people, renewable every two years based on driving records, alongside psychometric testing and strict controls on maximum driving hours.
