With the new academic year in full swing, Dubai Police Traffic Department, supported by Total Marketing Middle East (TMME), is taking the road safety message to students, parents and school bus drivers with activities both inside and outside the school gates. The Back to School campaign, which began in September, aims to reach 20,000 students of all age groups this year and next.

Dubai Police officers will interact with parents as they drop off and collect their children, distributing helpful literature created by TMME on the importance of reducing their speed, preventing children under 10 from sitting in the front seat, and parking responsibly among other essential road safety DOs and DONTs.

Police officials from the traffic department will visit schools to give lectures on following road rules. A mobile pedal car track will also be set up at the Arabian Centre, complete with road markings and traffic signals.
Meanwhile, TMME will set up permanent Traffic Parks at four new schools, following the success of Dubais first Traffic Park unveiled at Kindergarten Starters School in Al Garhoud in September.

The four new sites are: Our Own English School, Our Own High School, The Millennium School and Al Ittihad Private School. Each new park will aim to recreate a miniature road system complete with traffic signals, zebra crossings, a roundabout even a pretend petrol station, hospital, supermarket and a police station.

Colonel Saif Mohair Al Mazrouie of Dubai Police Traffic Department said: The Back to School initiative will build on the progress made in recent years to reduce road accidents in and around Dubai.

Learning to respect the rules of the road begins at school but it is up to parents as well as teachers to set the right example, he added. Promoting the basics of road safety is a continuous process and by reaching out to students, parents and families at school and in the community, hopefully well leave no stone unturned in our efforts to improve driving and pedestrian behaviour in Dubai.

Total Marketing Middle East (TMME) is once again partnering with Dubai Traffic Police Department to promote road safety in the UAE by producing the special literature needed for the multi-pronged campaign.

David Kalife, Managing Director of TMME, said: The Dubai population swells noticeably as the school year resumes, which makes road safety even more critical. Weve been thrilled by the response from students and parents to our Traffic Park project in Dubai and our partnership with Dubai Police. We believe this latest campaign will help take road safety awareness in the community to the next level.

Total has actively promoted road safety in the UAE for a number of years, in partnership with local schools and Dubai Police, reaching around 23,000 youngsters at nearly 40 Dubai schools through its Child Road Safety Campaign in the last four years alone.