Dubai: Ten motorists in Dubai were on Monday pleasantly surprised to be awarded Dh1,000 each for safe driving as part of the ‘Tristar Goldstar Contest’.
The annual road safety campaign this year is rewarding a total of 30 drivers from Monday to Thursday in Dubai. The contest is supported by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Dubai Police.
On Monday, Filipino expat Dennis Mariquina said he was pulled over by RTA on Al Rigga Road.
‘Fortunately it was a reward’
“At first, I thought maybe I had done a traffic violation. Fortunately, it was actually for a reward for safe driving as they had found me using the indicators while changing lanes and making turns,” said Mariquina, 42, who works as a team leader at Dnata.
“I’ve been driving in Dubai for almost 10 years and I try my best to always drive safely,” he added.
‘I was so happy’
The same day, Pakistani expat Mohammad Tufail, who rides a motorbike for Careem, was stopped by officials while he was on his way to Reef Mall to pick up an order.
“As I pulled into the service road, the officials directed me to make a stop and asked for my driving license. They said they had been observing my good sense of following traffic rules and offered me the reward; I was so happy,” said Tufail, 51, who has been riding a bike for 12 years in Dubai.
Combined effort
The contest is the combined effort of main sponsor Tristar Group, co-sponsor BMW AGMC, media partners Gulf News and Channel 4 Radio Network. The road safety initiative is the flagship event of Ciel Events.
Now in its seventh edition, the contest sees officials safely pulling over responsible motorists to reward them for following all traffic rules.
Founder and organiser of the event, Roshanara Sait of Ciel Events and Marketing, said: “Road safety is a shared responsibility that protects us all when we unitedly follow road rules. The key is sustainability: an ideal that we must similarly live by, in everything we do — for the environment, the planet, and the generations who will follow.”
She added: “We must make ongoing efforts to instil high standards of road safety within our communities. While there are very good ongoing efforts from the authorities, events such as the Tristar Goldstar Contest help us to further solidify our road safety objectives and messaging.”
