Overwhelming response to road safety campaign

MUSCAT — Tell us your story a road safety awareness lm by Safety First, Oman's leading road safety organisation, has made an online conversation with youth, raising awareness of the dangers on the road.

The lm features a number of famous and well-known people from Omani society, as well as members of the general public. Each person talks about how they know someone who had been killed or injured as a result of a road accident, and encourages other people to speak up about their loss.

Safety First Founder Hamed al Wahaibi said: “We have been overwhelmed by the number of people that have shown their support by viewing and sharing the video online. Social media's popularity has allowed us to spread the road safety message very quickly across Oman.

“It has been very touching to hear peoples' stories of loss from comments and e-mails we have been receiving. It has shown that this problem affects people from all walks of life.

Safety First Co-Founder Ali al Habsi said: “The Tell us your story campaign will continue to grow in momentum over the coming weeks and months in order to raise awareness of the dangers of road use. What this lm successfully does is that it makes people think of the wider consequences of dangerous road use, by hearing from the people that are sadly left behind following a death.”

“With 1,056 fatalities and 11,437 injuries last year alone, the task we all have of reducing road accidents is great. We hope this simple but emotive message will make people use our roads more safely,” Al Habsi added.