QU’s QTTSC celebrates Traffic Safety Ambassadors Programme conclusion
Event coincided with the 7th UN Global Road Safety Week
THE Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Centre (QTTSC) at Qatar University’s (QU) College of Engineering organised a closing ceremony for winners of the Traffic Safety Ambassadors Programme for secondary school students (female and male).
The programme, in its sixth edition, was held in cooperation with the National Traffic Safety Committee at the Ministry of Interior, the General Directorate of Traffic and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, with the support of Dolphin Energy, and in the presence of a number of judges from a number of government institutions, in addition to representatives of the participating schools and a number of faculty members and employees from QU. This programme aims to build an educated and effective knowledge society in the field of traffic safety in Qatar by involving the largest segment of youth in the process of spreading knowledge in the field of traffic safety.
Dr Khalid Kamal Naji, dean of the College of Engineering, said: “Traffic safety is of great interest in Qatar, where the State established the National Traffic Safety Committee, and in January 2013 the National Traffic Safety Strategy was launched, to reinforce the State of Qatar’s commitment to reducing road accidents and paving the way towards an ambitious long-term vision of providing ‘safe road transport system that protects all road users from death and serious injury.”
Brigadier Mohammed Abdullah Al Malki, secretary of the National Traffic Safety Committee, stressed that maintaining the safety of young drivers and passengers is one of the Committee’s top priorities in Qatar.
According to reports issued by the General Directorate of Traffic in the State of Qatar, traffic accidents involving young people constitute a large percentage of the total accidents, with the youth mortality rate in 2015 for the age group of 11 to 29 years reaching 49.4 percent of the number of traffic accident deaths, which is a very high percentage.
In his speech, Captain Saleh Rashid Al Nabet, head of Traffic Studies and Information Section at the General Directorate
of Traffic, said the close cooperation with the QTTSC is of great importance to enhance traffic safety in the country.
He also noted that the Traffic Awareness Department at the General Directorate of Traffic spares no effort in communicating with all segments of society in order to deliver the message of traffic awareness and spread information and traffic culture, with a focus on schools and university students. Therefore, the administration organises annual traffic awareness seminars and campaigns targeting mainly students.
Dr Shimaa Ali Al Quradaghi, director of QU’s QTTSC, said: “We are proud of this programme, which helps raise students’ awareness of the importance of road safety. This programme is an important platform to cultivate the concepts and behaviours of safe driving at an early age, as well as to encourage students to follow traffic safety rules consistently.”
First place for girls went to Rawda Bint Jassim Independent Secondary School for Girls, second for Arwa Bint Abdul Muttalib Independent Secondary Girls School and in third place, Zubaida Independent Secondary School for Girls.
For boys, Qatar Science and Technology Secondary School for Boys won first place, in second place Hassan Bin Thabet Secondary School for Boys and in third place Al-Andalus Private Secondary School for Boys.