Skip to main content

Public awareness and engagement key to making roads safer

Sustained public information campaigns on road safety can play a crucial role in reducing road fatalities on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) roads, according to a UK government marketing professional, whose public communication campaigns have helped reduce deaths on British roads by 45 per cent in the last decade.
April 26, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Sustained public information campaigns on road safety can play a crucial role in reducing road fatalities on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) roads, according to a UK government marketing professional, whose public communication campaigns have helped reduce deaths on British roads by 45 per cent in the last decade.

Emma Stranack, deputy director of external communications at the 5432 Department for Transport in the UK, said that raising and sustaining public awareness of the key risks of speeding, mobile phone use and not wearing seatbelts helps change attitudes about road safety, leading to safer and more considerate road behaviour.

Stranack has led the development and delivery of the UK Government’s Think! public awareness campaigns on road safety.  The campaigns, which include advertising, partnership marketing and digital engagement, have contributed to a 45 per cent reduction of road fatalities on British roads in the last decade – from 3,409 in 2000 to 1,850 in 2010.

She will be among an expert line-up of road safety experts at the sixth edition of the 224 Gulf Traffic Conference, taking place from the 12-13 December 2011 at the Dubai International Convention and Centre.

Stranack will provide an overview of the role of communications in UK road safety at the conference, including case study examples of Think! campaigns covering priority issues such as speeding and wearing seatbelts.

Increasing road safety and reducing traffic are top priorities for regional governments, and are the main topics of discussion at the two-day Gulf Traffic Conference 2011.  The event will bring together leading regional and international road traffic and transportation experts.

“It is clear that the GCC region is taking road safety seriously and is making good progress in addressing the main issues,” added Stranack.  “Events such as Gulf Traffic 2011 should reinforce this by sharing best practice and insight from across the region and by reviewing international case studies to help inform the design of road safety measures.

“As part of the UN Decade of Action on Road Safety, I am honoured to represent the UK Department for Transport at the conference and share what we have learned about how communications can help contribute to reducing road casualties.”

Organised by Informa Exhibitions, the conference runs alongside the Gulf Traffic Exhibition, which has so far confirmed an exhibitor line-up of 149 contractors, manufacturers and suppliers from 27 countries in the Middle East and overseas.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • IRF and FIA Seminar energises discussion on safe and sustainable roads
    June 30, 2014
    IRF, together with the FIA, held a high-level seminar in Paris on Road Safety, Sustainable Development and Financing. Contributors to the seminar included, among others, the President and Secretary General of the FIA, the Secretary General of ITF, and the Chairman of iRAP IRF and the Fédération Internationale Automobile (FIA) jointly organised a seminar on Road Safety, Sustainable Development and Financing on Thursday 17 April, one week after the UN adopted its latest resolution on “Improving global road sa
  • Dubai to host the 18th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition planned for 2021
    February 10, 2020
    Dubai, one of the world’s iconic cities, has been designated to host the International Road Federation’s World Meeting & Exhibition on November 8th-11th, 2021.
  • IRF Geneva highlights making roads safe: a priority for all
    May 15, 2014
    IRF Geneva’s Susanna Zammataro highlights the importance of the Federation’s ongoing commitment to the work of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration, with which she serves as co-chair of the project group dedicated to Safer Roads and Mobility On 10th April, the United Nations General Assembly was due to discuss a new global road safety resolution. For those who might dismiss this as just another piece of paper condemned to sit on government shelves and gather dust, this a reminder of a few facts
  • Roads a priority in Oman’s $14.8bn infrastructure spend
    May 29, 2013
    An upcoming summit will look at opportunities offered by Oman’s infrastructure plans. Oman is planning to spend some US$14.8 billion on infrastructure in the coming years. The figure, almost half of the country’s 8th Five-Year Development Plan for 2011-2015, has been earmarked for overhauling roads, ports and airports with the objective to link the three modes of transport to improve interconnectivity. Oman’s huge infrastructure will include numerous road projects, bridge structures, tunnel constructions an