MUSCAT, 11 April 2004 — World Health Day, under the slogan “Road Safety Is No Accident,” was celebrated in Oman with seminars and workshops with Sultan Qaboos expressing hope that the global movement toward safer roads would bear fruit.

The sultanate has taken a leading role in this issue including initiating a UN General Assembly resolution.

World Health Day is celebrated annually on April 7. In a message to mark the day, the Omani ruler said he was confident that the grave problem would be overcome through concerted and collective efforts in the larger interest of mankind.

Congratulating the WHO and the World Bank in creating awareness about the growing number of road accidents, Sultan Qaboos reiterated Oman’s fullest support toward this particular cause. “By taking these steps, the two organizations have waged a world war against the miseries caused by road accidents,” he said,

According to the WHO, there are as many as 3,000 fatalities every day on the world’s roads and 140,000 people injured including 15,000 disabled for life.

WHO representative in Oman Dr. Hussein Abdul Razaq Al-Jazeiri said, “In recognizing the need for safer road conditions, the Sutanate of Oman played a key role in placing the issue of road safety on the global agenda.”

The day was celebrated in Oman through seminars, workshops and lectures publicized by the mass media.

The day started with a function at Al-Bustan Palace Hotel presided over by Sayyid Fahd ibn Mahmoud Al-Said, deputy prime minister, to highlight the motto: “Road safety should not be left for coincidence.”

The gathering was told that a total of 10,197 road accidents in Oman last year — 12 percent higher than 2002 — killed 578 and injured 6,735.

Only on Monday, the Royal Oman Police launched a new fleet of ambulances to attend road accident victims.

Inspector General of Police and Customs Lt. Gen. Malik ibn Suleiman Al-Maamari, addressing a seminar, said the service is manned by a team of professionals. “But it is equally significant that the public adhere to speed limits for the sake of road safety in avoiding accidents,” he added.

He said the ROP is also planning to install a network of radar traps and traffic light monitoring equipment in key places around the sultanate. Tenders have already been invited for the new project designed to promote road safety in line with the UN resolution.

The initiative is part of a master plan to lower the road toll by 10 percent by the year-end.