The UAE has the world's third highest traffic fatality rate behind Oman and Saudi Arabia, and the "Be Smart. Drive Safe" initiative hopes to drive home the message that adhering to simple rules of the road can help prevent accidents and make Dubai's roads safer.
The corporate social responsibility campaign breaks on Sunday and is the result of a partnership between Dubai Autodrome, the Roads & Transport Authority, Dubai Police, HSBC and Audi.
Phase one of the campaign, which will last for six weeks, involves ambient poster advertising designed to raise awareness and provide a different thought-provoking tip for motorists each week.
The second phase of the campaign, which will begin in October, will target university students and will include a travelling roadshow.
Road safety campaigns are a rarity in the UAE despite the notoriety of the country's drivers, and raising funds for such a campaign has been problematic. As a result, the initial advertising campaign, which has been produced by Tamra C2, is limited in scale and ambition. It is hoped that as the initiative is repeated and expanded over the next three years, that the partnership will raise enough funds to include print and TV advertising.
Paul Velasco, public relations and media manager for Dubai Autodrome, said: "We are doing as much PR as we can to raise awareness and if we can safe just save one life through the campaign it will have been an achievement."
Statistics show that 21 people per 100,000 are killed on Dubai's roads each year compared to six people per 100,000 in the UK.
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