Sana al-Ansari, an 18-year old Qatari, who made an award-winning short film last year to spread awareness on the consequences of speeding and reckless driving, wants to share the film with driving schools and secondary schools.
“I continue to hear that a lot of youths die in avoidable road traffic accidents in Qatar,” she told Gulf Times.
Seeing first-hand the negative impact of accidents on families, al-Ansari felt she had to do something to help reduce the number of road accidents in the country.
The short film If They Only Knew portrays how families, friends and acquaintances of victims suffer from fatalities.
She believes that more people will realise the importance of safe and defensive driving by taking her film to a wider audience.
The film won the Best National Picture at Northwestern University in Qatar’s Thimun Film Festival. It was also screened at a youth workshop in Washington, DC in the US and at the Giffoni Film Festival, Italy under the “Made in Qatar” section in 2015.
Besides its screening at Doha Film Institute’s Ajyal Film Festival in December 2015 under the same category, the film was also shown in France and Germany recently.
Al-Ansari also teamed up with some of her friends, family and Reach Out to Asia. A workshop was held at Education City recently to tackle road safety.
Her sister Summer, best friend Shaikha al-Shershani and team members Nafla al-Marri and Esra Elfadl conducted a workshop called #thinkanddrive designed to discuss and find ways to reduce the number of road accidents.
At the workshop, a participant shared his experiences saying the tragedy caused him to be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life. He urged other participants to follow traffic rules and practise defensive driving.
Al-Ansari’s group also discussed how to help the Traffic Department curb speeding and careless driving. “We want to do our part in making a difference on the roads.”
She said Zaid al-Hamdan from Ajyaltek presented a safety device that can be attached to the vehicle. It “forces” the driver to wear the seat belt before the car starts. She also uses social media such as Youtube, Instagram and Twitter (Drive_Think) to spread awareness.
She reminds the youth: “Buckle up, remember who is waiting for you at home and put your telephones down when driving. Texting can wait even if it is very important.”