day international symposium on road safety, “Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020,” kicked off Saturday at Hyatt Park Hotel. The event, under the patronage of Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, chairman of the Saudi Red Crescent Society, with the cooperation of United Nations and the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, was organized by Abdul Latif Jameel Company to spread awareness about road safety and social responsibility, and promote collaboration between the public and private sectors. “We participated in this event to help prevent road accidents and to save lives which are assets for the country's development and progress,” said Othman Abdullah Al-Orabi, director of the Service Division at Abdul Latif Jameel Company. “We should join hands together for the safety of our country and have the best use of the vehicles. Education and awareness is one of the responsibilities and contributing factors to reducing accidents.” In the first day's sessions, attendees discussed a number of issues including roads, safer movements and safer vehicles. Discussions in the second day will focus on drivers and accidents. Hassan Al-Hosani, Vice President of the Arab Organization for Traffic Safety, said the event is part of his group's continuous support to enhance awareness of road safety. Road accidents are obstacles to the development of any country and almost 40,000 persons are killed every year in road accidents in Arab countries, he said. “The symposium is an indication of unity and we should solve the issues and causes of road accidents,” he said. “We support local and international programs and hope this symposium will help us deal with our problems.” Road accidents are the number-one killer of the youth, but we have to change the situation, said Joop Goz, president of International Organization for the Prevention of Road Accidents. “Worldwide, 1.3 million deaths occur because of road accidents every year, and more than 50 million people are injured,” he said. “About three people get killed in road accidents every minute. The World Health Organization states that the number of road deaths will rise by 67 percent over the period until 2020.” Dr. Mohammed Ali Kuman, Secretary General of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, said a number of steps should be taken to increase road safety. He emphasized the need for mutual efforts of the public and private sectors, raising awareness on all levels, using the Internet and information technology to continue the process of increasing awareness, new policies for car manufacturers to produce cars with limited speeds, improving the road network, developing traffic policies and unifying rules and regulations in the Arab world for licenses and traffic violations. Dr. Faiz Al-Ahmari, Vice Chairman of the Saudi Red Crescent Society, said on behalf of Prince Faisal that he appreciates the participants' efforts and thanked them for their initiatives and recommendations.
