"If I look at mass I will never act, if I look at one I will" - Mother Teresa
Challenge to change
More than 3000 people die on the world's roads every day. Several million people are injured or disabled every year according to WHO i.e 124 people are dying every hour and hundreds are becoming severely disabled and injured. Road accidents cost about $ 600 billion to governments in different economies, a figure that is equivalent to the combined GDP of almost all the developing countries in the world.
Have a look at the WHO data below from 2002. Note MENA region having above average accident rates which has since increased in recent years.
Have a look at the WHO data below from 2002. Note MENA region having above average accident rates which has since increased in recent years.
WHO accident mortality rates (2002)
UAE accidents
According to WHO, residents of UAE are 7 times more likely to die in car accident compared to those in UK. Road accident is the second major cause of deaths in UAE and deaths due to accidents have been increasing every year with exception of 2009 when deaths decreased by 10%. The decrease in population after recession was not taken into account so if you look at the big picture, the deaths may or may not have been effectively decreased.
It is also sad to note that road accidents are primary cause of deaths of children in UAE (63% of children deaths are due to accidents), 90 percent of children are unrestrained and many die to injuries suffered during the accident.
Abu Dhabi is the largest city of the UAE and has population of about two million. The Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (HAAD) has done a great job collecting statistical data of significant value. Below is the pie graph of common causes of deaths in Abu Dhabi which shows 63% of deaths are caused by Road Traffic Accidents (as in the case of children).
It is also sad to note that road accidents are primary cause of deaths of children in UAE (63% of children deaths are due to accidents), 90 percent of children are unrestrained and many die to injuries suffered during the accident.
Abu Dhabi is the largest city of the UAE and has population of about two million. The Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (HAAD) has done a great job collecting statistical data of significant value. Below is the pie graph of common causes of deaths in Abu Dhabi which shows 63% of deaths are caused by Road Traffic Accidents (as in the case of children).
Injury Deaths in Abu Dhabi (Source:HAAD)
How are road traffic accidents (RTA) caused and what are the factors contributing to Road Traffic Accidents?
This question has to be asked to understand the factors that lead to accidents, so that they can be prevented by finding solutions to such problems. Below is the table showing list of causes for driver accidents and as you can see most of them are due to recklessness and lackadaisical attitudes of the drivers. Most of the experts suggest this could be changed by educating drivers of proper driving and showing courtesy to other drivers.
This question has to be asked to understand the factors that lead to accidents, so that they can be prevented by finding solutions to such problems. Below is the table showing list of causes for driver accidents and as you can see most of them are due to recklessness and lackadaisical attitudes of the drivers. Most of the experts suggest this could be changed by educating drivers of proper driving and showing courtesy to other drivers.
Causal Factors of Deaths in Abu Dhabi (2000) Source: HAAD
Does proper education really prevent reckless driving?
Why do companies interview candidates even though they have amazing academic records or come form very prestigious universities? They could just hire the candidate just because he/she has great educational background. The answer is one of the most important factor they check to assess the success and fit of potential employee is attitude. If the person has great education but has an attitude like "I am better than my colleagues" and treats co-workers condescendingly, what are the chances that highly educated employee would be successful in the company?
As David Schwatz stated in his famous book Magic of Thinking Big, "The thinking that guides your intelligence (attitude) is much more important than how much intelligence you have. Attitudes are more important than intelligence." This positive attitude have been observed in most of accomplished people in the world who have average IQ and excelled due to self-discipline , the attitude of "I will learn from my failures and try till I achieve my goals". This realization is one of the basic principles for Suraya Foundation.
The point here, is that education does play a role in making the drivers understand the rules and regulations, yet mere education does not ensure that drivers will drive safely, unless the element of right attitude has been adopted. Suraya Foundation aims to spread "sticky" messages that would help change attitudes of reckless drivers.
Why do companies interview candidates even though they have amazing academic records or come form very prestigious universities? They could just hire the candidate just because he/she has great educational background. The answer is one of the most important factor they check to assess the success and fit of potential employee is attitude. If the person has great education but has an attitude like "I am better than my colleagues" and treats co-workers condescendingly, what are the chances that highly educated employee would be successful in the company?
As David Schwatz stated in his famous book Magic of Thinking Big, "The thinking that guides your intelligence (attitude) is much more important than how much intelligence you have. Attitudes are more important than intelligence." This positive attitude have been observed in most of accomplished people in the world who have average IQ and excelled due to self-discipline , the attitude of "I will learn from my failures and try till I achieve my goals". This realization is one of the basic principles for Suraya Foundation.
The point here, is that education does play a role in making the drivers understand the rules and regulations, yet mere education does not ensure that drivers will drive safely, unless the element of right attitude has been adopted. Suraya Foundation aims to spread "sticky" messages that would help change attitudes of reckless drivers.
Previous campaign flaws
i, Too logical
According to United States Department of the Interior, statistics state that if one million homes each have five leaky faucets, with 120 water drips per minute per faucet, 57 million gallons of water will be wasted per day.
That is huge amount of water wasted but how much is so much? If you had never visualized kilogram, litre or pounds it will be hard to assess how much is 1 kilogram of potatoes. Same thing goes with 57 million gallons of water which will be hard to visualize until somebody says 57 million gallons of water is wasted everyday i.e enough water for a family of three to use the water for 10 years! Now people could visualize and quantify "57 million gallons of water"
Same thing goes with many road safety campaigns which throw mere statistics like 10 people in 100,000 die of accidents every month. It is shocking but it is number catering to logical side of the mind i.e not shocking enough for most of them to remember this stats. What if we are to say "for every 10 people you know 2 had lost their loved ones in an accident" or just take profile of one person whose life has been damaged due to accident. These measures would make them think and consider the damage road accidents have done. Many contemporary road safety programs advertise statistics to which people in general do not relate easily. They have to do more so people can feel how accidents can damage the life of a person.
ii, Limited dissemination
Present road safety awareness programs in U.A.E are run for limited period of time and use mediums to spread awareness which have multiple constraints, for example one of the programs raising safety awareness had done only internet PR and limited magazine PR when many people (at least reckless drivers, the main target for the adverts) do not use social media or read magazines. Many of the accidents are done by taxi and bus drivers who have less chance of getting exposed to the road safety message. If a road safety campaign has to make some effect it has to be spread virally through media through newspaper, television, radio etc so at least a sizable portion of the targeted audience could receive the message.
iii, One Size fits all
U.A.E and most of Gulf is a mosaic of many cultures which each race having their own idiosyncrasies. If a message has to be effective it has to be such that people of certain demographic group could understand in their language and secondly that people could relate to the message. For example, one of the anti littering campaigns in Texas, USA showed many ads like a local Indian tribal chief crying over garbage on the land, the target litterers were the type of people to whom "please" did not mean much. They could not relate to the ads and therefore the ad did not work on these macho people. Texas authorities hired an advertiser Dan Syrek who figured out the best way to convince these macho-people was to use people they look up to or people like them. Based on the research the department of Texas approved a campaign built around the slogan "Don't mess with Texas" (See Case Studies) which reduced literring by 70% in 3 years and was the most successful anti littering campaign in the history. The campaign is still alive after more than 20 years (see www.dontmesswithtexas.org). This goes to show the power of advertising and targeting right group in changing people's perception.
iv, Measure
"What gets measured gets done" said by Peter Drucker, one of of the top gurus of business management. Contemporary road safety awareness programs do not follow up on whether their campaign worked or not through surveys, polls etc. Since human psychology relies on law of averages to measure a desired effect, the plan of this foundation is to quantify the effect by taking surveys from minimum 5000 people of different demographic groups to have statistical significant result from which we can assess our campaign is working or not.
According to United States Department of the Interior, statistics state that if one million homes each have five leaky faucets, with 120 water drips per minute per faucet, 57 million gallons of water will be wasted per day.
That is huge amount of water wasted but how much is so much? If you had never visualized kilogram, litre or pounds it will be hard to assess how much is 1 kilogram of potatoes. Same thing goes with 57 million gallons of water which will be hard to visualize until somebody says 57 million gallons of water is wasted everyday i.e enough water for a family of three to use the water for 10 years! Now people could visualize and quantify "57 million gallons of water"
Same thing goes with many road safety campaigns which throw mere statistics like 10 people in 100,000 die of accidents every month. It is shocking but it is number catering to logical side of the mind i.e not shocking enough for most of them to remember this stats. What if we are to say "for every 10 people you know 2 had lost their loved ones in an accident" or just take profile of one person whose life has been damaged due to accident. These measures would make them think and consider the damage road accidents have done. Many contemporary road safety programs advertise statistics to which people in general do not relate easily. They have to do more so people can feel how accidents can damage the life of a person.
ii, Limited dissemination
Present road safety awareness programs in U.A.E are run for limited period of time and use mediums to spread awareness which have multiple constraints, for example one of the programs raising safety awareness had done only internet PR and limited magazine PR when many people (at least reckless drivers, the main target for the adverts) do not use social media or read magazines. Many of the accidents are done by taxi and bus drivers who have less chance of getting exposed to the road safety message. If a road safety campaign has to make some effect it has to be spread virally through media through newspaper, television, radio etc so at least a sizable portion of the targeted audience could receive the message.
iii, One Size fits all
U.A.E and most of Gulf is a mosaic of many cultures which each race having their own idiosyncrasies. If a message has to be effective it has to be such that people of certain demographic group could understand in their language and secondly that people could relate to the message. For example, one of the anti littering campaigns in Texas, USA showed many ads like a local Indian tribal chief crying over garbage on the land, the target litterers were the type of people to whom "please" did not mean much. They could not relate to the ads and therefore the ad did not work on these macho people. Texas authorities hired an advertiser Dan Syrek who figured out the best way to convince these macho-people was to use people they look up to or people like them. Based on the research the department of Texas approved a campaign built around the slogan "Don't mess with Texas" (See Case Studies) which reduced literring by 70% in 3 years and was the most successful anti littering campaign in the history. The campaign is still alive after more than 20 years (see www.dontmesswithtexas.org). This goes to show the power of advertising and targeting right group in changing people's perception.
iv, Measure
"What gets measured gets done" said by Peter Drucker, one of of the top gurus of business management. Contemporary road safety awareness programs do not follow up on whether their campaign worked or not through surveys, polls etc. Since human psychology relies on law of averages to measure a desired effect, the plan of this foundation is to quantify the effect by taking surveys from minimum 5000 people of different demographic groups to have statistical significant result from which we can assess our campaign is working or not.
Government solutions
Education may not be enough by itself as Dubai government had taken stiff measures through various schools to ensure schools train drivers in UAE according to international standards. This is one of the reason why obtaining driving license in UAE is hard and measures like stiff penalty laws, speeding tickets etc may act as deterrent but not the best solution for tackling the problem. Let's see how the police of Dubai is focusing to reduce deaths due to road traffic accidents. In recent interview, the commander of Dubai police, Dubai Police Commander Lt. General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said
"Statistics have shown that improper driving habits cause 90 per cent of traffic accidents in Dubai, while faulty road engineering contributes to another three per cent", said Tamim.
General Tamim said the Dubai Police is taking action through four steps : -
i, Penalizing the violators (jumping red lights, over speeding, DUI)
ii, Vehicle monitoring (checking tyres, brakes, lights, wipers, exhausts and number plates)
iii, Monitoring driver status (checking driving licenses, driver's fitness & weeding out banned drivers)
iv, Raise Public safety Awareness
Raising public awareness is fourth on the list and is given less importance than monitoring on the road. Penalizing may act as a deterrent but is not the long term solution. Most of the road safety awareness programs are small scale and provides random statistics which surprises people but not strong enough to convince them to take up safety measures.
Questions raised
To change the attitude one has to come up with innovative measures to make people emotionally aware of the consequences of their actions. After carefully studying the problems, here are some questions raised : -
What measures can one take so people can remember the road safety message?
How can we make sure the appalling statistics of road deaths can make people remember about the seriousness of the problem?
How can we spread road safety messages to mass population of UAE or Gulf?
How can we make messages catering to different nationalities of UAE?
How do we know the road safety campaign has been successful? By successful we mean is there any positive statistical significant result due to listening to road safety message as opposed to not listening?
Education may not be enough by itself as Dubai government had taken stiff measures through various schools to ensure schools train drivers in UAE according to international standards. This is one of the reason why obtaining driving license in UAE is hard and measures like stiff penalty laws, speeding tickets etc may act as deterrent but not the best solution for tackling the problem. Let's see how the police of Dubai is focusing to reduce deaths due to road traffic accidents. In recent interview, the commander of Dubai police, Dubai Police Commander Lt. General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said
"Statistics have shown that improper driving habits cause 90 per cent of traffic accidents in Dubai, while faulty road engineering contributes to another three per cent", said Tamim.
General Tamim said the Dubai Police is taking action through four steps : -
i, Penalizing the violators (jumping red lights, over speeding, DUI)
ii, Vehicle monitoring (checking tyres, brakes, lights, wipers, exhausts and number plates)
iii, Monitoring driver status (checking driving licenses, driver's fitness & weeding out banned drivers)
iv, Raise Public safety Awareness
Raising public awareness is fourth on the list and is given less importance than monitoring on the road. Penalizing may act as a deterrent but is not the long term solution. Most of the road safety awareness programs are small scale and provides random statistics which surprises people but not strong enough to convince them to take up safety measures.
Questions raised
To change the attitude one has to come up with innovative measures to make people emotionally aware of the consequences of their actions. After carefully studying the problems, here are some questions raised : -
What measures can one take so people can remember the road safety message?
How can we make sure the appalling statistics of road deaths can make people remember about the seriousness of the problem?
How can we spread road safety messages to mass population of UAE or Gulf?
How can we make messages catering to different nationalities of UAE?
How do we know the road safety campaign has been successful? By successful we mean is there any positive statistical significant result due to listening to road safety message as opposed to not listening?
