12.23 AM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
29 March 2024

Safety with Emirates24|7: Dubai Police teaches students

Dubai Police to interact with parents as they drop off or pick-up kids from school. (Shutterstock)

Published
By Sneha May Francis

In a bid to spread awareness about car safety, Dubai Police Traffic department has teamed up with Total Marketing Middle East (TMME) with the aim of educating 20,000 school students about the importance of buckling up.

The ‘Back to School’ campaign kicked off in September.

Dubai Police officers will interact with parents as they drop off or pick-up their children from school, and distribute pamphlets that will stress on the importance of reducing speed, preventing children under 10 from sitting in the front seat, and parking responsibly – among other essential road safety ‘dos’ and donts’.

Police officials from the traffic department will visit schools to talk about the importance of road rules.

A mobile pedal car track will also be set up at the Arabian Centre, complete with road markings and traffic signals.

TMME will also set up permanent traffic parks at four schools - Our Own English School, Our Own High School, The Millennium School and Al Ittihad Private School, following the success of Dubai’s first such park at Kindergarten Starters School in Al Garhoud last September.

Each new park will aim to recreate a miniature road system complete with traffic signals, zebra crossings, a roundabout – even a pretend petrol station, hospital, supermarket and a police station.

“The back-to-school initiative will build on the progress made in recent years to reduce road accidents in and around Dubai,” said Colonel Saif Mohair Al Mazrouie of Dubai Police Traffic department.

“Learning to respect the rules of the road begins at school but it is up to parents as well as teachers to set the right example.

“Promoting the basics of road safety is a continuous process – and by reaching out to students, parents and families at school and in the community, hopefully we’ll leave no stone unturned in our efforts to improve driving and pedestrian behaviour in Dubai.”

David Kalife, Managing Director, TMME, said; “Dubai population swells noticeably as the school year resumes, which makes road safety even more critical.”

Buckle-up safety


BMW Group Middle East is marking the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDR) by urging drivers and their passengers to buckle up.

Commemorated annually on the third Sunday of November, WDR is endorsed by the United Nations. This year on November 16, the occasion will remember the millions killed and injured on the world’s roads as well as their families and many others also affected.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of a fatality among front seat passengers by 40-50 per cent and among rear seat car occupants by 25-75 per cent.

Lesley Cully, who had spearheaded the ‘Buckle Up In The Back’ campaign in the UAE since 2010, has been working with schools to educate school-going kids about the importance of buckling up whenever they travel in the car.

During her campaign, she had visited numerous schools across the UAE, to spread the message.

Seatbelts = Life

According to the laws of physics, if a vehicle is travelling at 120 kilometres per hour, its contents and passengers are also moving at 120km per hour. A sudden stop or head-on collision at 120km per hour can mean the difference of life or death to the passengers wearing seatbelts. In a road traffic accident, passengers who are not buckled up will fly toward the point of impact, colliding with anything in their path such as dashboards, windshield or steering wheels with several pounds of moving force.

Seatbelts are designed to stop the uncontrolled movement of people within a vehicle and therefore one of the most important tools to prevent serious injury or death in a road traffic accident.

Seatbelts reduce child fatalities

Buckling up, she insisted, is the just basic protection we can offer our children. “This needs to be an everyday exercise,” explained Lesley.

Children are not small adults – they need specialised protection in a moving vehicle. Until the age of seven, children’s bones are still forming, which means they must be protected from the force of an accident. Babies’ skulls are extremely flexible and even a small impact can result in significant deformation of the head and brain. Also, an infant’s rib cage is still elastic, and any impact to the chest can damage the heart, lungs and other internal organs. At this age, the pelvis is unstable and cannot withstand the forces from the use of regular seat-belts featured in your car. Therefore, appropriate child restraints are essential to reduce the risk of injury.