Dubai: Almost 10 per cent of those injured or killed in traffic accidents are children between the ages of 4-17, a Dubai Police official said.

Major General Mohammad Saif Al Zafein, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Operations Affairs, also said parents and schools play a big role in creating traffic awareness for children.

Al Zafein made the remarks at the opening of the first of four miniature traffic parks that were built by Dubai Traffic Police in cooperation with Total Marketing Middle East at different schools in the city on Wednesday.

The parks feature a small network of miniature roads on which young children drive downsized cars to learn rules of the road.

The first of the four parks opened this year at Al Ittihad Private School in Jumeirah.

“As you know Dubai Police always supports any initiatives that instill the concept of the law in our children, especially traffic law,” Maj Gen Al Zafein said.

If children learn traffic rules and regulations when they are young, this information will stay with them when they grow up, and it is more likely they will be safer drivers and cut down traffic accidents and fatalities.

Captain Suha Ebrahim, Head of the Traffic Awarness Department at Dubai Police, said that they have a school-year long awareness programme where they visit schools and conduct lectures and workshops.

“Also if a school asks us for traffic awareness lectures we do visit them, and it’ll be the same for the schools with the traffic parks. We are also planning on training teachers in schools with traffic parks so they can teach the children the traffic rules.” She said, adding there are five parks already built, with four to open this year, and one next year.

David Kalife, Managing Director of Total Marketing Middle East, who was also present at the opening, said they wanted to be part of projects that are meaningful to the emirate.

The project, Kalife said, is an opportunity to build on their involvement by helping create and maintain a permanent site for road safety in schools.

“We are pleased to be working with Dubai Police Traffic Department on this fantastic project and we will be applying some of the lessons we’ve learnt from running road safety awareness programmes at schools in the UAE to the management of the park,” he added.