Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is all set for the new academic year 2025–2026 through a comprehensive plan that includes a package of traffic improvements around schools and a series of innovative awareness initiatives directed at students, drivers, and parents.
These efforts form part of RTA’s commitment to promoting traffic safety awareness among students, a key pillar of Dubai’s traffic safety strategy, and in support of the nationwide awareness campaign led by the Ministry of Interior under the theme “Traffic Safety for School Students.”
RTA will resume the rollout of its awareness programmes, comprising more than four key initiatives. Among them are the “Golden Rules for Generations’ Safety” programme for middle school students, the “Hello, My School” programme targeting kindergarten and primary school children, and the “Virtual Driving Licence” programme for high school students. The Authority will also support major school events at the start of the academic year, in addition to distributing educational gifts to students. These gifts will feature printed QR codes linking to digital designs that present traffic safety instructions in an engaging way.
Commenting on the initiatives, Hussain Al Banna, CEO of RTA’s Traffic and Roads Agency, said: “RTA is committed to supporting traffic safety in school zones for all students and education staff in the Emirate of Dubai. Our expanded back-to-school plan, developed in collaboration with Dubai Police, includes providing drivers and parents with proper guidance on safe practices when dropping off and picking up students. The plan also involves distributing awareness gifts to parents containing safety tips, alongside student-focused gifts carrying messages on safe street crossing and avoiding danger zones around school buses and family vehicles when boarding and alighting.”
Al Banna added: “We expect the number of students in Dubai schools this year to reach 400,000, across more than 230 public and private schools, representing over 185 different nationalities and cultures. This diversity poses significant challenges, including the need to provide the best conditions and services to improve the learning environment and avoid traffic accidents. With the cooperation of our government and private sector partners, RTA has played a vital role in ensuring that Dubai schools have remained free of traffic-related fatalities in recent years, recording zero fatalities since 2010.”
He further noted: “RTA is expanding its network of electronic signboards near schools, which display drivers’ speeds, with additional modifications encouraging motorists to reduce speed and wear seatbelts. We continue to spread awareness messages to drivers and parents through social media platforms, outdoor advertisements, and customer service centres. Furthermore, we are working closely with our partners at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority and Emirates Schools Establishment to share safety messages with students and parents, providing them with the necessary instructions to avoid traffic accidents in school areas.”
Over the past years, RTA has successfully implemented the School Zones Project, which included reducing speed limits around schools, taking traffic-calming measures, deploying smart signboards, providing safe pedestrian crossings, and painting red road markings labelled “School Zone” in both Arabic and English to remind drivers that they are within a designated school area.
At the start of the new academic season, Al Banna called on all stakeholders, parents, and drivers to fully comply with traffic safety measures when transporting children to and from schools. This includes using the designated pick-up and drop-off areas, refraining from stopping in spaces allocated to People of Determination or emergency vehicles, and adhering to school bus signals and signs. He emphasised the importance of vigilance and attentiveness to student movement around school zones, reducing speed, and following traffic signs and signals. Such practices, he affirmed, form a protective shield for students and help ensure a safe start to an inspiring, accident-free academic year.
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