LEBANON: In an effort to curb traffic accidents in Lebanon, advocates launched a video awareness campaign to promote safe driving Tuesday evening.
Approximately 120 people gathered at UNESCO for a ceremony that included remarks from organizers and the premiere screening of the campaign video, to be aired on all Lebanese channels. At three minutes long, the music and Arabic lyrics packed an emotional punch.
Amid imagery of a fatal car crash, a father remembers the loss of his son and, with longing, imagines his return. The Lebanese band Four Musketeers performed in the video.
Ghadi Rahbani, Lebanese composer and author, wrote the music for the video and was drawn to the project as an opportunity to support the safety of youth in Lebanon.
“There are a huge number of accidents in Lebanon, not only for the driver, but also for the pedestrians walking on the roads,” Rahbani said.
Collaborating with Rahbani, Dr. Hamad Abou Dargham wrote the lyrics. In his experience as a neurosurgeon at Mount Lebanon Hospital, he has seen many parents lose children to fatal car accidents injuries.
“I am speaking on behalf of the parents who lost their children in car accidents [to] let others imagine these emotions if they had a similar” experience, Abou Dargham said.
According to information published by Youth Association for Safety Awareness, a nonprofit advocacy group for road safety in Lebanon, traffic accidents kill more than 840 people in the country every year. According to the group, inadequate law enforcement is one of the biggest contributors to the problem.
The German School of Beirut financed the video’s production. Mona Fawaz, the school’s media and marketing consultant, spoke of the need to raise public awareness on traffic accidents in order to save lives: “This video clip will open their eyes. This will make them aware.”
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