Dubai, Aug 3 (Khaleej Times): Four family members — including two policemen and a baby — died in a major road accident when the car they were travelling in ploughed into another vehicle which had stopped along the emirate’s main arterial road.

A 55-year-old woman, another family member, was also seriously injured when the two vehicles collided in a traffic accident along Shaikh Zayed Road about 9.20pm on Thursday night, after the seventh interchange in the direction of Abu Dhabi.

The accident was caused when the Jordanian woman stopped her black saloon car in the middle of the road after it suffered mechanical problems, Dubai Traffic Prosecution head Salah Bu Farosha said.

The woman said she stopped the car along the third lane of the road when the steering wheel stopped working and the engine cut out, and she had to be helped from her car by a passing driver as she was too scared to get out alone.

Bu Farosha said according to the primary investigation carried out by Public Prosecutor Rashid Al Falasi and Jebel Ali police, as the woman and her rescuer were talking on the side of the road, a vehicle came from behind and collided with the woman’s car, forcing it 40 metres toward the right lane, while the impacting car, carrying a Yemeni family of five, who were all living in Dubai, veered to the left.

The rescuer motorist told the prosecution he had warned the woman to remove the car from the road, but she did not respond in time. The Yemeni family members who died include 34-year-old CID police officer Majid Sidr Ali Jaran, his 60-year-old father Bur Dubai police sergeant Khidir Ali Jaran, Majid’s 33-year-old wife Aysha, and their nine-month son Hamad. Majid’s 55-year-old mother, who was also in the car, was seriously injured and was rushed by the Air wing of the Dubai police.

However, the Jordanian woman, a 43-year-old teacher, was outside the car on the road shoulder and was not injured.

He said a case to determine the obligation and responsibilities of each party had been opened and could be referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution.

The surviving female driver had been interrogated and other witnesses questioned, while the mechanical department of the Dubai police was checking the car to see whether it was possible she could have removed her car from the road without endangering road users. The Dubai Public Prosecution has ordered the Traffic Department’s accident drawing expert to reconstruct the accident scene.

Al Falasi said that similar accidents occur had happened recently, with an Emirati dying a few days ago after he got out of his car in the middle of Shaikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road to check a burst tire, when he was hit by a car from behind . He warned it was illogical an dangerous for drivers to stop  in the middle of the road while driving at 140 kilometers an hour.

Eleven people have died on the roads since the beginning of Ramadan, including three people who died in a collision with a restaurant.