ABU DHABI // Driver courses should focus more on fostering a culture of road safety and traffic behaviour instead of the mechanical aspects of driving to pass a test.
“Students need to be taught more than just how to drive,” said Robert Hodges, chief operating officer at Emirates Driving Institute. “They should be taught how to improve the way they think about the act of driving. They need to develop a safety culture and respect for other road users.”
Good driver education helps drivers to realise the importance of planning ahead.
At Emirates Driving Company, in Abu Dhabi, students are taught basic driving skills and traffic laws, basic vehicle knowledge, car safety and how they should drive under difficult conditions, said Khaled Al Mansoori, chief executive.
“Ensuring that drivers apply what they have learnt, especially abiding by traffic rules, comes down to traffic enforcement,” he said.
To be effective, road safety education should be part of the school curriculum, said Thomas Edelmann, founder of the website Road Safety UAE. “It will protect children who learn how to buckle up at a young age,” Mr Edelmann said. “When our children become motorists, they learn proper driving behaviour if instilled at an early age.”
All road users, not just drivers, should be educated, said Simon Labbett, regional director for the Transport Research Laboratory. Pedestrians should be encouraged to obey traffic control signals at zebra crossings and junctions, and not cross from undesignated areas.
“Education has its place to ensure that knowledge is transferred, but it needs to be linked with effective enforcement,” Mr Labbett said. “On many occasions it’s evident that drivers choose to disregard the legislation in their driving behaviour. This is not a knowledge issue but a driver’s choice.”
Dr Salaheddine Bendak, an associate professor at the University of Sharjah, said: “Education without enforcement would yield limited effects. Together they would give much better results, based on research.”
rruiz@thenational.ae
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