Traffic Department launches 'Back to School' campaign

The campaign intends to raise traffic awareness among students.

General Directorate of Traffic (GDT) launched Sunday its 'Back to School' campaign, coinciding with the start of the new academic year. The campaign, which involves the all areas and schools across the state of Qatar, intends essentially to raise traffic awareness among students and to urge them to further adhere to the traffic safety values through several events and activities prepared by GDT that would continue during the whole year. Director of Traffic Awareness Department Brigadier Mohammed Radi Al Hajri clarified that GDT embarked Sunday the implementing of a comprehensive plan to secure vehicle traffic coinciding with the onset of the new academic year and through the intensification of traffic patrols in the entire streets and key intersections, including school perimeters in all areas across Qatar, noting that the first day of the new academic year did not witness any reported traffic accidents, but only slight traffic congestions in the vicinity of some schools, however, traffic personnel were able to maintain traffic flow and had subsequently handled these traffic congestions, affirming that GDT would continue to intensify the traffic patrols during the whole year to reduce traffic accidents and ensure the arrival of the students to schools in a timely manner, in addition to maintaining the patrols in the vicinity of schools to ensure safety and traffic discipline of students. He said that the importance of reminding the public of the traffic safety renews every year for the sake of attaining a new year free of accidents and casualties, pointing out that traffic safety comprises a plethora of requirements, and the most important one is the complete stop of vehicles before passengers embarking and disembarking process, as well as making ample distance between vehicles so drivers can visualize the students before he moves on, in addition to crossing the road from the area designated to pedestrians and ensure that vehicles do not stop randomly at school perimeters. Brigadier Mohammed Radi Al Hajri asserted that the promotion of security and safety culture in community-especially among school male & female strata- is one of the crucial rules in which the synergetic efforts of various entities are combined starting from families and schools until reaching different community institutions, urging the students guardians to persistently raise the awareness of their sons and daughters pertaining to safety measures and alert them on the risks of unnecessary gatherings in the vicinity of schools and the adjacent internal roads, adding that he admonishes drivers of public vehicles and school buses to essentially adhere to the rules and instructions of GDT and to take precautions during the driving to further ensure the safety of students and never expose them to traffic accidents. He also stressed on the importance of pursuing the necessary safety measures and instructions which entail the importance of making sure that vehicle doors are securely closed prior to moving the vehicle, avoiding crossing high speed limit, particularly on the routes adjacent to schools or their vicinity, in addition to regularizing the embarking and disembarking processes. Brigadier Al Hajri urged school officials to regularly issue directives to the supervisors of students vehicles and remind them on the importance of monitoring the students during round-trip to & from schools and instruct the them to maintain the correct acts that ensure their entire safety.