LEBANON: Lebanese who lost loved ones in car accidents participate in a new awareness campaign to highlight the danger of speeding

Record ID: 346767

  • Title: LEBANON: Lebanese who lost loved ones in car accidents participate in a new awareness campaign to highlight the danger of speeding
  • Date: 3rd April 2013
  • Summary: CLOSE-UP OF PHOTO OF SAHAB WITH HER HUSBAND WHO DIED, KHALIL HAJJAR
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVADXHCV773UKLXFLUJDIEB8XKMM
  • Story Text: A Lebanese non-governmental organization has launched a new awareness campaign for safer driving, as the number of traffic accidents continues to rise in the country, affecting the lives of many of its citizens.
    YASA (Youth Association for Social Awareness), an NGO founded in 1996 and now covers Lebanon and 16 other countries in Europe, America and the Middle East, says over 3,000 people are killed in car accidents around the world each year, ten times more than those killed in war.
    "In Lebanon, around 1,000 people are dying in car accidents. This percentage was lower in the past while countries like France, Germany and others the percentage decreased by four times. The problem is car accidents are on the rise in Lebanon and a number of Arab countries," says Ziad Akl, founder of YASA quoting figures released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
    He compares reckless driving to the violation of human rights.
    "That is why as YASA, we are asking the government and parliament in Lebanon, and we're asking all the Arab governments and legislative councils in the Arab world, to make the issue of traffic safety into an issue also associated with human rights. What is more important than letting a human live? Before taking care of his political rights, we should take care of his right to live," says Akl.
    YASA's latest campaign features Lebanese journalist and actress May Sahab, who lost her husband Khalil Hajjar in 2012 to a traffic accident.
    Sahab, mother of a 9-month-old girl when her husband died, found out five days after the accident that she was already pregnant with another child. Hajjar was killed by a speeding car while helping someone on the side of the road.
    "Sometimes I wish we did not follow the law. I wish if Khalil was a little guilty. I wish if he was driving and speeding, I would at least, for myself, say that he was guilty. I feel frustrated a lot knowing that he was standing on the sidewalk, I feel frustrated a lot that he was helping someone, I feel frustrated a lot that he did not know that I was pregnant," says Sahab.
    She shared her bitter experience in one of YASA's TV campaigns on Mother's and Children's Day, hoping to bring awareness to the danger of speeding.
    "It has been a while since my relationship started with Ziad Akl and YASA because of my work in the media, and I couldn't refuse such a favour. Because maybe with all the depression that one lives with and the feeling that he can do nothing to change, there is still a little hope, as I said, if one person during this year changed his way of thinking and driving, if his ethics in driving changed, I would have at least done something," says Sahab, who is expecting her second child later in April.
    18-year-old Zeina Hosh was killed in 2005 when the driver of the car she was riding crashed into the vehicle.
    "I always say if Zeina was putting the seat belt, she would have still been here, if she was sitting right in the car, she would have still been here. With time, with the YASA and the many times I went with them and attended conferences they do and the awareness they raise, I said I wanted Zeina's name to stay. I don't want her to go like this. With what happened to her (Zeina), I want to reduce for other mothers what I have been through," says Randa Khater Hosh, Zeina's mother.
    Every year since her daughter's death, Randa organizes the "Zeina Hosh's Day" in collaboration with YASA and shares her story with young students, including those at Zeina's school.
    Ranad quizzes the students on basic driving knowledge, and those who score the highest grades are awarded with free driving lessons.
    Sahab, Hosh and Akl call for the government to impose new traffic laws to hold the violators responsible, saying it's the only solution to make roads safer in Lebanon.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.
Register