Traffic campaign will target parents

Lectures will also be given to school bus drivers and guards.

ABU DHABI // Police will launch a traffic safety campaign to teach children how to stay safe on the roads when the new school year begins on Sunday. The initiative will target parents as well as children and warn them of dangers. More than 200,000 pamphlets in Arabic and English will be distributed in schools, explaining how to avoid hazards on the road.

The campaign, which was announced yesterday by Abu Dhabi police, is part of a plan to reduce traffic accidents by four per cent a year. Children are at particular risk in the UAE. Last year, the number of deaths caused by car accidents in Dubai rose by one-fifth. Half of the victims were under the age of 10. In April, Dubai launched the Little Steps for Safety campaign, which urged drivers not to speed past schools.

Unlike similar campaigns in previous years, pamphlets offering guidance to parents about how to teach their children traffic awareness and the rules of the road will be handed out, while safety lectures will be given to school bus drivers, supervisors and guards. Police hope information about how to cross school lanes and the safest way to get on and off buses will affect not only the children of today, but also of future generations.

Police said 15,000 simplified and illustrated traffic safety booklets would be handed out to children in kindergarten and primary schools across the country. They also advised parents not to leave their children in the care of people who may not be educated about proper safety rules in traffic, such as housemaids. @email:[e-mail]