In order to reduce fatal traffic accidents during summer, the Sharjah Police on Monday launched an awareness campaign titled "Summer Without Accidents" to educate the public about the importance of following traffic rules.

Major Omar Bughanem, director of traffic and patrols department of the Sharjah Police, said that the campaign - which will continue until September - is part of a nationwide traffic safety drive.

The campaign embodies the strategy of the Ministry of Interior to make roads more secure and achieve the highest levels of traffic safety for motorists. The awareness campaign targets all segments of society about the danger of traffic accidents. Maj Omar Bughanem said that the campaign would focus on tyre safety, speeding, overload of cars used by road travellers who go on vacation to neighbouring countries and driving for long hours.

He said that the statistics issued by the Traffic and Patrols Department indicate that there were 147 serious traffic accidents which resulted in the death of 34 people in the emirate during last summer. The main causes of accidents were sudden swerving, lack of attention, speeding and failure to leave sufficient distance between vehicles.

He pointed out that Department of Traffic and Patrols provided direct awareness and general accident prevention advice to motorists and distributed among them a number of awareness leaflets, both in Arabic and English. He urged motorists to ensure the safety of tyres periodically and the validity of the vehicle in general, as well as to adhere to the rules and regulations.

Source: Khaleej Times