Saleh Dabbakeh in Amman
Every street in the Jordanian capital Amman, and elsewhere in the country, on which there is a school is now adorned with speed bumps in both directions. And with good reason.
Like many other neighbouring countries, road accidents are among the 10 highest causes of death. The latest statistics released last month by the National Traffic Department showed that 758 people died and over 17,000 were injured in 2002. Nearly 54 percent of the victims were children.
More than 43 per cent of the deaths and 31 percent of the injuries resulted from pedestrians being hit by motorists. Around 53,000 accidents took place across the country last year, or one accident per 100 people. More than half of these occurred in Amman.
The economic losses of this ongoing disaster are enormous and constitute a burden to the well being of many people. Faced with the consequences of accidents, many people find themselves obliged to foot medical bills and other costs, which can amount to the equivalent of several thousand US dollars.
The burden is so heavy that even some insurance companies are reporting large annual financial losses due to the large number of claims.
The Jordan Red Crescent Society, which has been active in previous road safety activities, is gearing itself up to spearhead a vast mobilization campaign aimed at improving knowledge and changing attitudes and practices related to the rules of the road.
The timing could not be more opportune. Mixed with the grief of families that have lost loved ones is a tangible sense of anger in the country and a growing feeling that much of this loss could have been prevented. There has been a spate of newspaper articles calling for more stringent measures to protect citizens. This is an issue that seems to have touched everyone.
"I will ask His Majesty King Abdullah, the Honorary President of our NS, to head our campaign," Dr. Mohammad Al-Hadid, President of the JRC, told a recent meeting of several of the national society’s partners within the movement. "The road safety campaign will be our main priority for 2004."
A short project proposal has been prepared for presentation to potential donors to fund part of the campaign. The local private sector will be approached for more cash and in-kind funding. The International Federation has pledged to assist the JRC in designing and planning the campaign.
The campaign will bring together a wide variety of interested groups - including the education and interior ministries, the media, the private sector such as insurance and communications companies, and local and international NGOs, such as the Jordan Association for the Prevention of Road Accidents - to form a National Task Force, which will design and implement clear strategies and a plan of action to execute the campaign.
"I believe one of the factors that shows whether a country is willing to progress is obeying the law, particularly traffic laws, which will save many lives if heeded," said Mohammad Al-Dabbas, head of the Association for the Prevention of Road Accidents.
Schools have traditionally formed the strongest base of support for the JRC. Each school is supposed to have a Red Crescent club. Hence, controlling traffic at the start and the end of the school day will be one of the main priorities of the campaign. Students and parents will be asked to volunteer to play a significant role in organizing traffic near schools across the country.
The campaign is believed to be the first of its kind, in terms of size and impact, in the Arab World. It is hoped that its success will become a catalyst for other countries in the region to organize similar campaigns.
Related links:
Activities in Jordan
Road Safety