Dubai Police urge motorists to ‘Give Hope’

The Dubai Police General HQ, in collaboration with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services and The General Directorate of Civil Defense, has officially launched a three-month campaign entitled ‘Give way … Give Hope’ to raise awareness among drivers about the importance of giving way to emergency and police vehicles to save the lives of others.

The announcement of the three-month campaign came at a press conference held by H.E Major General Abdullah Ali Al Ghaithi, Acting Assistant Commander-in-Chief for Operations, in the presence of H.E Khalifa Bin Dray, Executive Director of Dubai Ambulance Services, Colonel Ali Hassan Al Mutawa, Assistant Director for Fire and Rescue and a number of officials representing Dubai Police’s strategic partners and senior officers.

Campaign Objectives

Maj-Gen Al Ghaithi emphasised the importance of spreading the culture of giving way to emergency, police and official convoys vehicles to enhance the overall speed of response to accidents, and to provide much-needed services to the injured without unnecessary delays.

Six indicators
Maj-Gen Al Ghaithi explained that the campaign is seeking to achieve six indicators; the first is to “reduce the response time to emergencies through raising awareness among members of the public and motorists on the importance of paving the way for emergency vehicles”, while the second is to “reduce the number of crashes involving emergency vehicles” Al Ghaithi added.
“The third indicator is to “qualify trained emergency drivers in Dubai Police, Dubai Ambulance and Civil Defence, through specialized training programs”. ” while the fourth is to educate and train motorists, especially those working in large corporations and companies, on how to react to the presence of emergency vehicles on the road”, Maj-Gen Al Ghaithi explained.
Maj-Gen Al Ghaithi pointed out that the fifth indicator is to introduce educational and awareness materials of the “Give way…. Give Hope” campaign among the materials provided at driving schools to become as one of the requirements for obtaining driver’s license in the future.
According to Al Ghaithi the sixth indicator is to “reduce the number of committed fines for not giving way to emergency and police vehicles on road”, stating that as per the Ministerial Resolution No. 337 of 2019, violators of not giving way to emergency vehicles are fined Dh3,000, 6 traffic (black) points and vehicle impounding for 30 days.

Strategic Campaign
Al Ghaithi stressed that the “Give Way… Give Hope” campaign is one of the force’s most strategic awareness campaigns as it aims to evaluate the behaviour of road users and drivers to contribute to the achievement of the strategic indicator in the speed of response to emergencies. He added that the campaign would continue annually for the next five years.

Save a life
On his part, Khalifa bin Dray stressed on the importance of joint efforts among various partners at the emergency and crisis sector in Dubai for the success of the “Give Way… Give Hope” campaign, thus consolidating the culture of giving way and priority to emergency vehicles. bin Dray called out to drivers to cooperate with Dubai Emergency, Civil Defence and Dubai Police and facilitate their duties by being responsible and following road rules as per campaign instructions.
“Every second matters when it comes to saving people’s lives” “Adhering to road rules is in line with the strategic plans of Dubai Cooperation for Ambulance services that aims at reaching the utmost traffic safety and enhancing the competence of emergency response reports which contribute to saving both lives and properties, decreasing death rates caused by traffic accidents and realizing a safe environment on roads.” Bin Dray added.

Response Time to Fires
For his part, Colonel expert Ali Al-Mutawa said: The response time to reach the site of an accident can be determined to the risk of death or injury, and the survival of that risk for people trapped in fire sites is critical. Therefore, reducing this time is a strategic goal of civil defence, as much as it is a noble goal that enables fire and rescue teams to reach people who need to be rescued at the crucial time necessary to save their lives.” Protecting lives is our primary goal” Al-Mutawa added.

Al-Mutawa added that public cooperation in giving way for emergency vehicles, including fire and rescue vehicles, is an essential factor in reducing the time to reach those in need of protection and rescue. Al-Mutawa praised the campaign’s goal describing giving way to emergency being a chance for members of the public to save the lives of others.
“We are confident that our conscious and cooperative community members will transform the awareness campaign (Give way …. Give hope) to individual and community common behaviour to support emergency teams ensuring highest levels of safety for all because safety for all can be only be achieved with the participation of all,” Al-Mutawa concluded.

3 Months, 4 Languages
The campaign, which is planned to run for three months, will include posting awareness messages on all social media and mass media platforms. In addition to distributing pamphlet and guidebooks to driving centres across Dubai and playing awareness videos for students at schools in which all will be available in four languages (Arabic, English, Urdu, and Tagalog) to reach to a significant number of targeted groups.