Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has taken an innovative and creative approach to spreading the awareness on the risks of using mobile phones while driving. The creative approach has also gained the RTA a Guinness World Record.
In a public event held at Dubai Festival City, about 140,000 Lego bricks were used to make the signboard reflecting a traffic awareness message in English and Arabic. The message read: Your Life is worth more than a phone call.
Students were invited to insert Lego bricks in the signboard to spread the awareness message on a larger scale. Later the RTA provided the students with a large signboard for signing a letter of undertaking that they will alert their parents if and when they use the phone while driving.
Maitha bin Adai, CEO of RTA’s Traffic and Roads Agency said, “The underlying objective of this achievement is to send a loud & clear awareness message to motorists cautioning them against the risks of using of using phones while driving. Traffic studies indicate that the probability of traffic accidents where motorists are using mobile phones while driving is four times higher than those not using it.
“We were keen to ensure that this awareness message is creative, attractive and has a global implication. This event contributes to achieving RTA’s KPI in traffic safety and (0) fatality per 100,000 of the population. During the period 2008-2015, we have managed to reduce the fatality rate of traffic accidents by as much as 82%. The rate receded by 22% during 2015-2017. Overall, the traffic fatality rate dipped from 21.7 cases per 100,000 of the population in 2007 to 2.5 cases per 100,000 of the population last year (2017).”