The Royal Health Awareness Society announces the official launch of its Traffic Ambassador Project

The Traffic Ambassadors' Project is a community based initiative that aims at building the capacities of young people in pursuit of serving their communities and hence, enhancing traffic related behavior change catering mainly for child safety on the roads. Through Traffic Ambassadors Project, Jordanian youth will lead road safety initiatives on the national level and act as ambassadors of RHAS in their respective communities voluntarily.

"We are honored to launch the Traffic Ambassadors Project under the slogan "Child Safety", and announce the year 2008 as the phase of implementation of the initiatives and action plans of our ambassadors on the national level. The Traffic Awareness Project is based on Her Majesty Queen Rania Abdullah's initiative which started in 2005 as The National Traffic Awareness Campaign. Our main and ultimate goal is to save Jordanian lives, with the support of the dedicated ambassadors who perceive this goal as a priority to make Jordan a safer place for living," said En'aam Barrishi, Director General, RHAS.

The Conference was attended by 19 traffic ambassadors from different governorates, where Hana' Al-Hour Traffic Ambassador of Madaba, and Rami Al-Rawashdeh Traffic Ambassador of Kerak, presented their 2008 action plans and initiatives on behalf of the Ambassadors, featuring ideas targeting the local community and addressing traffic and road safety issues based on the actual needs of local communities. Young people become the focal point between Traffic Awareness Program team and the local community through establishing a core volunteer network.

"Traffic accidents in Jordan are dramatically increasing, and are becoming a major cause of death killing hundreds of innocent children across the country. We believe that we can create a safer Jordan on roads by focusing on behavioral change. In line with Her Majesty Queen Rania Al- Abdullah vision, we seek to build up people's feeling of responsibility and rationality while driving their cars," added Barrishi.

RHAS also held an exhibition of the preliminary work prepared in 2007, featuring pictures and documents of the warm-up workshops held at various cities across Jordan, together with tentative action plans and outlines of strategies proposed by the Ambassadors.

The Traffic Awareness Program is supported by an advisory committee that aims at facilitating the implementation of the project's initiatives, and ensuring effective realization of the project's goals and objectives. The committee consists of Mr. Mustapha Tabbaa, Engineer Jamil Salim, Mr. Esam Shahzada, Miss Lana Sakka, Mr. Muin Khoury.