Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi has launched a new campaign to encourage greater road safety awareness in the emirate’s schools.
Public transport regulator, the Department of Municipalities and Transport’s Integrated Trasnport Centre (ITC), has launched the School Road Safety Awareness campaign at the Horizon Private School in the capital, in partnership with transport provider STS Group and safety platform RoadSafety UAE.
The objectives of the awareness campaign are to ensure the safety of students on trips to and back from the school, targeting 6,500 students in 20 schools over the span of six months. The campaign will be carried out in cooperation with Abu Dhabi Police, the Department of Education and Knowledge, RoadSafetyUAE, and its partner STS Group.
The purpose of the campaign is to empower the student community to become advocates of road and transport safety through a unique learning environment. It will be supported with a curated road safety curriculum, interactive videos, and games.
Interactive workshops
During the campaign workshops, students will be assigned appropriate learning levels based on their grades. They will undertake lessons in road safety management, and participate in engagement activities with interactive games and quizzes that teach them to treat road safety as an ongoing responsibility.
Learning elements
The learning programme covers topics like travel safety protocol in the school bus and on the road, as well as emergency protocol. One of the learning modules is based on local laws related to the use of Personal Mobility Devices like bicycles and e-bikes. The campaign also includes interactive boards games designed to teach students the about road safety practices and danger zones surrounding the school bus. During the launch, winners of the games received goody bags, and one lucky student was awarded a bicycle, while another took home an e-bike.
ITC is committed to improving road safety in line with the vision of the Abu Dhabi authorities, and this school road safety campaign is of particular importance to ITC and the UAE community. The authority has stressed that road safety education must start at home and in school.
“The purpose of the campaign is to embed traffic safety principles, proper conduct on roads, and the values of safe driving in children from an early age. By doing so constructively and systematically, we will contribute to reducing road crashes and help raise a generation of safer drivers for the future,” Steve Burnell, STS Group, managing director.
The Road Safety Awareness Campaign with ITC is in line with STS Group’s approach towards shaping a safety-centric culture within the company, and reflects their core values of Safe, Timely, Smart.
“Working with the education sector on road safety is a key strategic pillar and this public-private collaboration is a great example of how to bundle forces for a good cause,” said Thomas Edelmann, managing director of RoadSafetyUAE.
