Police in Abu Dhabi have hit out at some of the emirate’s most reckless drivers, including one who racked up almost 40 violations on his licence in a single year.

Brigadier Khalifa Mohammed Al Khaili, Deputy Director of the Traffic and Patrols Directorate, said such frequent and flagrant violations are the reasons for many accidents happening.

He was speaking as the Abu Dhabi Police released a breakdown of accidents on the roads  so far in 2016.

Al Khaili said: “Among these bad drivers, the worst offender registered 38 offences, followed by one with 30 violations and the third with 28 offences.

“The fourth and fifth worst drivers recorded 27 and 25 offences respectively. And this is pretty bad as violating traffic laws causes most of the crashes on roads.”

Speeding, negligence, jumping red lights, driving on the hard shoulder and miscalculation on the part of drivers topped the list of most common offences in the capital.

Besides fines, drivers who exceed the maximum 24 black points have their cars and driving licences seized for a month.

A total of 77 people died in crashes in Abu Dhabi in the first quarter of 2016, up from 54 in the first three months of 2015, figures showed.

Al Khaili said that 66 radars and speed guns that were placed on internal and external roads captured 15,661 motorists exceeding the maximum speed limit between January and April this year. He said: “Police have taken these measures to target motorists who drive above accepted speed limit set on various roads or are caught violating other traffic laws.”

He said that police in Abu Dhabi have more patrol officers, radars and surveillance cameras on the roads that see the worst driving and highest rate of accidents.