National Ambulance Urges School Zone Safety as Students Return to School

Abu Dhabi, 11 September 2017: National Ambulance is urging parents and motorists to take extra care around school zones and school buses as thousands of UAE students return to school this week. National Ambulance will raise levels of preparedness during the first few weeks of school around hot spot areas and dynamic standbys during peak hours in readiness to ensure public safety across the Northern Emirates.  

Ahmed Saleh Al Hajeri, Deputy CEO, National Ambulance said, “Safe driving should be a priority at all times, but with school back in session it takes on an extra significance. Therefore, we encourage motorists to pay extra attention for children around schools or buses and obey school zone speed limits. As part of our pre-emptive emergency preparations, we have been coordinating our efforts with our strategic partners, specifically Traffic and Patrol Departments, to ensure the highest levels of safety at this time.” 

Al Hajeri added: “The start of the school year also generates an increase in overall traffic in many areas, an additional reason to make safe driving a priority. So plan ahead and leave early and have patience for school buses and stop for them when required.” 

To maximise safety, the emergency pre-hospital provider is encouraging parents to plan ahead and leave home with plenty of time to avoid expected traffic delays and has issued a number of helpful tips for all concerned: 

• Plan ahead and leave home with plenty of time for traffic delays
• Keep at least 2 seconds behind the car in front
• Do not double park at school
• When passing school do not exceed 20km/h
• Do not let kids walk between cars outside school
• Always give children the right-of-way, slow down and take caution for children and school buses, particularly in and around school zones going in and out of cars/ buses loading and unloading children (children may unexpectedly step into a roadway without checking for oncoming traffic

As well as using the 998 emergency ambulance call number during emergency situations, people in the Northern Emirates can directly contact National Ambulance Communications Centre through the National Ambulance 998 App. At the touch of a button, people can request an emergency ambulance. The request goes immediately to National Ambulance’s Communications Centre, where trained staff are able to respond and dispatch an ambulance directly to the scene through GPS tracking.  The App is available for IOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry. 

National Ambulance commenced operations in the Northern Emirates in 2014 to provide a dedicated pre-hospital emergency response to patients across the Northern Emirates. Its primary task is to handle public medical emergency response and provide high levels of pre-hospital care to citizens and residents across the Emirates of Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al-Khaimah and Fujairah.