Under the umbrella of the ‘Third UN Global Road Safety Week’ campaign, The Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS) has collaborated with the World Health Organization to organize its annual ‘Road Safety Day’ event that gathered 150 students selected from 6 schools that implement RHAS’ “Think First” Program, in partnership with The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, Greater Amman Municipality, and Jordan Traffic Institute. This event aims to raise awareness and encourage local leaders to improve road safety for children.
The ‘Road Safety Day’ event that took place at Telaa Al Ali Traffic Park on May 7th under the patronage of Amman Mayor; Mr. Akel Biltaji, embraced educational and entertaining activities, all revolved around road safety awareness. The program kicked off with three educational sessions presented by Jordan Traffic Institute, followed by “Sesame Street” play along with an interactive Q&As session. Representatives from all concerned official parties which take part in making decisions and policies in Jordan’s Road Safety; mentioning Greater Amman Municipality, Jordan Traffic Institute, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health participated in the event.
Road Safety Day is being held under the umbrella of RHAS’s injury prevention program entitled Think First, which addresses pedestrian, vehicular and cycling safety as one of its multiple injury prevention topics. With 107 schools currently implementing the Think First project, RHAS selected 6 schools to participate in the Road Safety Day, thus ensuring a greater social impact and highlighting RHAS’ project plans for the current academic year.
The Director General of RHAS, Ms. Enaam Barrishi, commented on this year’s road safety campaign saying: “Our latest campaign reflects our eagerness to promote a healthy and safe environment for our children to prosper in. Today’s event is about taking action and spreading the word during Global Road Safety Week and beyond to make a real difference in the lives of our most vulnerable road users.”
World Health Representative to Jordan Dr Maria Cristina Profili said that The UN Global Road Safety Week provides a unique opportunity to advocate for improved safety on the roads and to renew commitment and efforts at all levels, in order to help save thousands of lives.
“Of the 186 300 annual global road traffic deaths among children, 26 623 (about 14%) occur in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Males account for 66.8% of these deaths. Road traffic injury ranks among the top regional causes of death for children and young people over the age of 5 years. A child is someone under the age of 18 years as defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child” Dr Profili added
This week contributes to achievement of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 which aims to save 5 million lives across the world.
According to a 2014 study conducted by the Jordan Traffic Institute—the kingdom’s official road safety information and statistics provider—an overall 217 individuals aged between 1 and 17 years died due to road accidents in 2014, while 4,132 slight to severe injuries were reported.