A female private chauffeur with just two traffic violations in nearly 10 years was among the 10 safe road users who won cash rewards on Monday as part of road safety awareness campaign.

Josemarie Buno, a Filipina working as a driver for an Emirati family in Dubai for almost a decade, received Dh1,000, but not before her heart skipped a beat or two.

“I got nervous when I saw a police official approaching me in the parking lot of Etihad Mall. Apparently, he was monitoring my driving. I was wondering if I had done anything wrong, but then he congratulated me,” Buno said after winning the prize in Mobil 1 GoldStar Contest.

The 42-year-old woman, who in all these years was only fined for two minor traffic offences, said that road safety is everyone’s responsibility.

“When you are on the road, you have to respect other road users and make it a habit to wear a seatbelt, use indicators and maintain lane discpline. These are small steps that can go long way in ensuring safety,” Buno said

Another winner, Maitha Al Malek, a 24-year-old Emirati psychology graduate, changed her driving habits after a life-threatening accident.

“I met with a horrible accident a couple of years back and that made me rethink road safety. I think I was lucky to survive the accident in which my car was mangled. It was not my fault, but I wasn’t wearing a seat belt, which resulted in dislocation of my right arm; my right wrist bone was shattered,” Al Malek, who has been driving for five years, said.

Though, Al Malek has been involved in minor traffic offences, she said she is a much safer driver now. “I was dropping off my maid at the supermarket this morning and I freaked out when I saw a police officer approaching me. I was thrilled when he told me that I am being rewarded for my safe road habits,” she said.

The three-day Mobil 1 GoldStar Contest will continue in Dubai on Tuesday before moving to Sharjah on Wednesday.

The campaign aims to reinforce people’s belief in good road behaviour by rewarding different categories of road users, including drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

Each winner walks away with a cash prize of Dh1,000.

According to the RTA, pedestrian death increased by 30 per cent in 2016, while road safety experts have indicated that there was an upward spiral of deaths in traffic accidents last year with half of the road accidents caused by drivers between the age group of 18-30

source : gulfnews