Delegations from traffic departments across the GCC took part in the celebrations and the accompanied activities of the 29th GCC Traffic Week in Abu Dhabi. The activities included the launch of new Abu Dhabi traffic social initiatives including: the Best Young Driver in the Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi, the Best Family in the Marina Mall, and the Best School in Al Dhabiianiyah School. Other activities included the signing ceremony of the partnership between Abu Dhabi Traffic and Al Futtaim Motors.
Brigadier Eng. Hussein Ahmed Al Harthi, Director of Abu Dhabi Police Traffic and Patrols Directorate, praised the participation of the GCC delegations in the deliberations of the 29th GCC Traffic Week, which is organized under the theme: “Your Safety is Our Goal.” He thanked them for their participation in launching new initiatives that aim to empower society towards traffic safety issues.
The delegations also visited the directorate in Abu Dhabi and reviewed the smart traffic systems in addition to witnessing the efforts that are made to improve traffic safety levels. They also viewed the services provided to the public via the customer service center.
Al Harthi met GCC delegations representing the traffic departments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the State of Kuwait, Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, and the Kingdom of Bahrain. He stressed on maintaining the strong relations among the GCC traffic departments on all traffic safety levels.
He said: “Celebrating the unified GCC Traffic Week represents the cooperation between the countries to improve the behavior of road users, resulting in better traffic safety.”
Al Harthi briefed officers and non-commissioned officers of the GCC traffic departments on the traffic safety strategy of the Abu Dhabi Police. He overviewed the efforts resulting in the reduction of deaths and traffic accidents during the past three years. The main results according to Al Harthi include: reduced traffic accidents with injuries by 33%; reduced traffic accidents that resulted in fatalities by 34%; a decrease in traffic accidents with severe injuries by 25%; a reduction of citizen deaths by 17%; decreased deaths per 100,000 people per capita by 35%; reduced deaths per 10,000 vehicles registered in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi by 46%; and a reduction of deaths per 10,000 people with driving licenses by 50%. “These results confirm the positive outcome of the ambitious plan to improve traffic safety, prepared by the directorate in the beginning of 2010.”
The delegations were also briefed on achievements related to traffic awareness via the Abu Dhabi Traffic program’s campaign: ‘Together,’ which promotes traffic awareness on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Al Harthi explained that participation, comments, and views on Facebook amounted to 6,234,347 views and followers on Facebook totalled 1,412 users, while awareness messages through Twitter reached 800 users. Additionally, approximately 6,500 people used YouTube to watch campaign-related videos. The above-mentioned numbers indicate the success of the Abu Dhabi traffic awareness program.
The Traffic and Road Safety Engineering Department at the directorate was also visited by the delegations; they were briefed on the smart traffic systems used in automatic road control. They also reviewed the services provided to customers. At the conclusion of the visit, memorial gifts were exchanged.