Prince Jalawi Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Emir of the Eastern Province, inaugurated the Kingdom's traffic week awareness program on Sunday at the Mall of Dhahran. “Beware Other People's Error” is the campaign slogan for this year's traffic week. As part of the 26th Gulf Traffic Week campaign, the Eastern Province traffic police department has organized an exhibition with the participation of 22 different government organizations. The exhibition includes activities which aim to increase traffic awareness, especially for youths, children and expatriate drivers through question and answer competitions with prizes awarded to the winners. To develop a traffic safety culture in the community, the traffic police department has set up a pavilion in the Mall of Dhahran which distributes brochures, gives demonstrations, and advises the public on safety instructions to be followed while driving. Saudi Aramco, Ministry of Health, Saudi Electricity Company, Red Crescent Society, Mawqif, and Scitech have all set up stalls which present road safety awareness demonstrations and distribute brochures advising people on how to avoid traffic violations. These stalls also display statistics on road fatalities and the cause of major road accidents, along with photos of accidents and brochures on road safety instructions. According to Eastern Province traffic police officials, 60 percent of all accidents can be avoided by promoting traffic awareness in the community. Officials have confirmed that traffic accidents last year were reduced by 12 percent. As part of the traffic week campaign, Prince Abdul Aziz distributed “Ideal Driver” awards to four citizens who have never had a traffic accident. Abdul Aziz Al-Naeem, Ali Al-Shahrani, Khalifa Al-Dossary and Ali Al-Meelad were the citizens selected for the awards by the Eastern Province traffic police department from Dammam, Khobar, Dhahran and Qatif. Saudi Aramco has organized a special defensive driving pavilion outside the mall where youths can test their safe driving skills.
