Good driving for a safe future in the Middle East

It was a cherished opportunity to be able to recently present our perspective on road safety at Jordan and how we can make our streets safer. A safe street may seem a trivial issue amidst all the turbulence the world is going through these days. But in fact, a safe street  provides a space to demonstrate and change regimes; a safe street can be a hub for your child’s talent in football or graffiti, a safe street can be a community space to share and care for each other, a safe street means a step towards a much safer life.
On Friday 21st of October, I attended the launch of the Safe Driving campaign at  the World Economic Forum Special Meeting on Economic Growth and Job Creation. During this meeting, the Global Agenda Council on Media, Entertainment and Information introduced a pilot campaign aimed at safe driving for the region’s youth, developed by students of the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts (RSICA), and mentored by MEI Industry Partners.

As RSICA students, we were intrigued by the idea of participating in social change; and how we, as part of our communities could dream of new ways to tell their stories  and reflect them honestly and with grace. So from there we came up with two concepts:

Our first concept regards child safety. We chose to combine images of children with amusement parks and joy; while stressing that the consequences of life choices are different than those we make in amusement parks. Hence, if you abide with all these safety measures to get an adrenaline rush on a roller coaster, you’d better do the same in your car by securing your child and abiding with safety measures.

Our second theme revolves around the concept of texting and driving, focusing on how phones can be noisy and distracting as we drive. Ideally, we don’t allow people to distract us — we decide when they can be part of our attention or simply when they can’t. As we drive, is our phone a friend that can make us bump into a pavement? Or will we be sane enough to park and text? We here reaffirm the right to choose. We chose to transmit our ideas in the form of public safety announcement’s and billboards, magazine advertisements and to delve into the world of Trans-media.  That’s why we ask you to stay tuned for what we have. It’s an explosion of creativity with a really vivid edge that touches the hearts and minds of the MENA region.

*Second year student at the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts