The Emirates Motor Sports Federation (EMSF) in association with Dubai Police, the Road & Transport Authority and Porsche today (May 15) launched an awareness campaign that will run over a four-week period aimed at educating children aged 4-8 years basic road safety rules.

The campaign was launched this morning at the Royal Dubai School where 65 delighted children participated, displaying incredible knowledge of road signs and traffic rules for their tender age.

In order to create the right ambiance, the EMSF had set up a road network in the school’s gymnasium, complete with road signs, Zebra crossings and traffic signals thereby giving the children a feel of what to expect when driving.

With the support of Porsche, each child drove a 911 Porsche pedal car through the network adhering to all the basic road safety rules during their time at the wheel.

A qualified instructor briefed the children at the start the session where every child received an easy-to-understand booklet on road safety rules, and on completion of the session were given a license endorsed by Dubai Police stating “My First License – I Know My Road Rules.”

The plastic license cards carry all details of the child such as name, age and photograph, and though it does not permit the children to drive, it does indicate that the card holder has participated in a road safety campaign. This is the first time ever that such a license has been issued to school children in the UAE and will serve as a life-long collectible item.

The licenses were given to the children by head of the Deira Traffic Department Duma Bilal Suwaidi who was present right through the sessions, including sessions held at the American Academy for Girls.

An added bonus for the children was officer Suwaidi’s impromptu offer to give them a first-hand feel of a police car. The officer invited the children to sit in the police car and even permitted them use of the car’s loudspeaker.

While the campaign is being conducted in 15 schools currently, the EMSF aims to extend this road safety awareness drive to more schools in the near future given the tremendous response from educational institutions to this unique initiative.

EMSF Director-General Mr. Khalid Al Malik said in a news release: “Though the EMSF is a motor sport organisation, we strongly believe that road safety comes first and we will always work towards doing whatever necessary to educate the general public on the importance of safe driving.”

EMSF Marketing and Business Development Manager Roshanara Said added: “In fact, while this campaign is aimed at educating tomorrow’s drivers today, the EMFS has for the past 10 years been conducting safety awareness campaigns.

“And, while the ‘Think Before You Drive’ campaign held earlier this year sought to educate the mass public on the need to follow basic road safety rules, the EMSF has on its drawing board several other initiatives that aim to bring down accident rates through awareness campaigns,” Ms Sait disclosed.

According to statistics, there is an accident every three minutes on Dubai roads with a fatality average of one every two days. Since the beginning of the year approximately 89 deaths have been recorded due to road accidents.

This campaign is being sponsored by Porsche Middle East & Africa and Porsche Centre Dubai (www.porschedubai.com).


Related Article: Over 2000 school kids learn road rules