Under the patronage of Lt. General H.H Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Lt. General Saif Abdullah Al Sha’far, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Interior, inaugurated the 30th GCC Traffic Week 2014 today, which is taking place under the slogan “Our Goal is your Safety”. The inauguration ceremony was organized by Abu Dhabi Police’s Traffic and Patrols Directorate and took place at the Rosewood Hotel in Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi. The ceremony was attended by Major General Staff Dr. Obeid Al Hiri Salim Al Kutbi, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Abu Dhabi Police; Major General Mohammed bin Al Awadhi Al Menhali, Director General of Police Operations at Abu Dhabi Police; Major General Abdul Aziz Maktoum Al Shareefi, Director General of Protective Security and Federal Investigation at the Ministry of Interior; Brigadier Ghaith Hassan Al Zaabi, Director General, Traffic Coordination Department, Ministry of Interior; Brigadier Eng. Hussein Ahmed Al Harithi, Director of Traffic and Patrols Directorate at Abu Dhabi Police; and a number of Director Generals and Heads of Departments; in addition to a number of officers from the Ministry of Interior and Abu Dhabi Police.
The inauguration ceremony witnessed the launch of many new community-based traffic initiatives by the Abu Dhabi Police Traffic and Patrols Directorate. The new initiatives adopt an exceptional approach in widening public participation in traffic safety-related issues. It also witnessed the introduction of a first-of-its-kind activity in the Middle East; broadcasting videos that tackle various traffic issues that will be circulated via mobile phones. This activity aims to enhance the communication with people from different walks of life, including locals and expatriates, and to enhance public participation in traffic awareness deployment.
During the ceremony, Lt. General Saif Abdullah Al Sha’far inaugurated the new community-based traffic initiatives that were devised under the umbrella of Abu Dhabi Police’s traffic program to reduce traffic accidents, titled “Together”. These initiatives aim to foster community participation of both locals and expatriates, with the help of creation, innovation, and activation of traffic campaigns over the course of the year. The initiatives comprise 12 traffic safety concepts; one for each month. These include, “The road belongs to everyone”, “Let us be like them”, “A baby is in your vehicle”, “You are the backbone of this country”, “They have the right”, “Give them the priority”, “Respect my traffic culture”, “On the studying bench”, “Your goal is construction not destruction”, “A bus on the road”, and “The traffic creativity council.” As part of the last initiative, various social activities for people from all walks of life will be organized, and people will be invited to discuss traffic-related topics that lead to the community’s cohesion regarding their attitude towards traffic issues.
Preventing the Losses
Brigadier Ghaith Hassan Al Zaabi, Director General, Traffic Coordination Department, Ministry of Interior, delivered a welcoming speech to the attendees. He said that the GCC Traffic Week is an annual event that aims to spread healthy traffic culture, devoted to safe traffic behaviors in the GCC countries, and unifying the efforts that strive to establish a social culture that covers all aspects of traffic safety and serves our vision of achieving the goals that people in the GCC aspire to.
Brigadier Al Zaabi stressed that the GCC Traffic Week is no longer an annual meeting; it is now consists a set of public interactive practices that cover the entire course of the year