Bahrain will join the rest of the region in marking the 13th Arab Traffic Week, which will kick off tomorrow (May 4).

The campaign is being held under the theme "Until When" and aims to prevent more accidents and spread awareness about road safety.

Traffic officials have drawn up a detailed programme on activities designed to educate the public about the importance of traffic safety culture.

"Our directorate is ready and has prepared an educational programme that coincides with the launch of the Arab Traffic Week," said Traffic Directorate general director Colonel Shaikh Abdulrahman bin Sabah Al Khalifa.

"We are determined to use every traffic event well by active participation and communicating the traffic safety culture to the public so that we help in reducing road accidents, especially since we are at a critical time as the region is booming quickly.

"Therefore, the public needs to be more aware of what surrounds them because road regulations are connected to the urban and economic developments, and protecting them is our goal because human element is very essential in any country's plan of progress.

"The directorate will invest in every opportunity this week to convey to the public the right discipline one should have when it comes to traffic."

Col Shaikh Abdulrahman revealed there has been a dramatic drop in the number of fatal road accidents in the last five years.

"We have observed a decrease in the number of people killed in fatal accidents in the last five years, which came as a result of the extra attention Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa is paying to the directorate through implementing the latest technological advancements in structuring road traffic system, and because of the collaboration between traffic police and the public," he explained.

The annual campaign, which will run until May 10, was initiated in 2000 by the Arab Interior Ministers Council. – TradeArabia News Service