Let Us Go Home Safely – A Road Safety Project by Tristar in UAE

In 2014 Tristar partnered with the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) of the United Kingdom to implement a road safety project called “Let us go home safely” in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that approximately 1.24 million deaths occur annually on the world’s roads. It also said that road traffic injuries are among the top 10 leading causes of death and are now a global public health problem. Road accidents are also the number one cause of death among those aged 15–29 years.

As a consequence, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution in 2010 calling for a Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020.

Statistics of road accidents in the GCC

According to the WHO report, the eastern Mediterranean region has the second highest number of road traffic deaths in the world after the African region. In the region comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the situation of road safety is also not good. The GCC region has a very high road fatality ratio as compared to many parts of the world. The region spends billions of dollars annually to treat injured drivers and handle loss of assets and losses to the environment. In other words, road accidents generate a massive waste of economic resources and health services along with the trauma and tragedy suffered by victims and their families. In the UAE, road accidents are believed to be the number two killer after cardiovascular diseases. The Dubai Police Chief noted that “an average of one person is killed every 48 hours in traffic accidents, and one person is injured every four hours in Dubai.”

Project outcomes

The overall objectives of the campaign were to save lives and prevent injuries caused by road accidents and to:
> conduct surveys among commercial, heavy-duty drivers in the UAE in order to know the causes of accidents and to develop a tailor-made training program;
> bring in experts from RoSPA and conduct “Train the Trainer” workshops for Tristar trainers so that the project can be sustained and run by Tristar staff;
> approach transport companies from various sectors and arrange free training for their drivers as well as staff who are driving to and from work; and
> conduct post-training surveys with all these organizations to monitor improvements in their safety performance.

We targeted heavy-vehicle drivers for this project because they are highly vulnerable on roads. They pose a threat to themselves and others and most of their accidents are serious, resulting in multiple fatalities, injuries, fires, or environmental damage.

Survey results

We conducted a survey among commercial, heavy-duty drivers to know more about the underlying reasons that lead to road accidents. We covered Pakistanis, who comprised 57.4 percent of heavy-duty drivers, followed by Indians with 29.4 percent, Jordanians with 7.4 percent, Egyptians with 2.9 percent, and Yeminis and Bangladeshis, both with 1.5 percent.

Only 34 percent of the drivers believe that accidents happen due to human error, whereas road statistics show that, in fact, the majority of accidents occur due to human error. Moreover, it was discovered that 24 percent of the drivers surveyed believe that accidents are an act of God, thus non-preventable.
Alarmingly, 35 percent of the drivers surveyed had had an accident. They had been driving for an average of 10.5 years, with the longest duration being 35 years and the shortest less than a year. The average driver is 35.4 years old, with the oldest being 53 and the youngest 24.

A very small number of drivers were driving up to 18 hours a day, and about 23 percent do not get at least eight hours of daily sleep. This suggests that they should be educated on fatigue management, as road statistics also show that fatigue is a major cause of accidents for heavy-duty truck drivers.

When asked what things are bothering them while driving, 31.3 percent and 30.8 percent answered financial problems and family problems, respectively.

The feedback was an eye-opener and helped in developing a customized training program. Though designed by RoSPA in English, the program was translated into local languages that most of the drivers could understand. Tristar also took input from its own staff and drivers on how to sustain this project and make it more effective.

Private and public workshops

On June 8 and 9, Alan Timms of RoSPA facilitated a “Train the Trainer” course for a group of Tristar managers and operations staff. The public launch of the road-safety awareness campaign workshop was held on June 10 at the RTA Bus Depot in Al Aweer, where three groups of heavy-duty drivers and transport supervisors were given training on accident-free driving.

The campaign was extended to outside companies, and more than 500 heavy-vehicle drivers were able to be trained free of cost. Also, on September 11, the General Manager for HSEQ and Sustainability, Muhammad Akber, and the Group HSE Manager, Faisal Bhatti, spoke at the Best Practice Seminar on Road Safety, organized by the Centre for Responsible Business of the Dubai Chamber.

Engineer Hussain Al Banna, Director of the Traffic Department at the Traffic and Roads Agency, says: “We in the RTA believe in the importance of strategic partnerships with the private and other government sectors in Dubai, and in particular to share the importance of awareness targeting sections of the community to raise their level of understanding regarding traffic in the Emirate of Dubai. During the past years we did not stop supporting outreach efforts undertaken by private companies in Dubai, including the latest by Tristar, which deserve our thank you in disseminating the safety culture to the public, especially drivers of heavy trucks. We believe that the existing partnership projects with large transport companies should continue, and we will support all campaigns aimed at raising traffic awareness for drivers.”

Global concern

For his part, the Tristar Group CEO, Eugene Mayne, explains: “As a major player in oil and gas logistics, we are conscious of the potential consequences of an incident involving road tankers transporting flammable products, and we remain committed to sharing our experiences and international best practices to make the roads safer for all users in the UAE and across the GCC.”

Tristar’s road safety project complements the UN Global Compact Principles 1, 7, and 8. The project is also in line with the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020, which is a landmark resolution by the UN General Assembly and has been co-sponsored by 100 countries. The Decade of Action has the official goal of “stabilizing and then reducing” global road traffic fatalities by 2020.

Moreover, the project is aligned with UN Millennium Development Goals No. 6 and No. 7: Global road deaths and injuries are considered a major public health problem with a broad range of social and economic consequences, which, if left unaddressed, may affect the sustainable development of countries. Lastly, the project is also aligned with the vision of the Dubai Police to reduce road deaths to zero by 2020.

Behavioral change

We are very confident that our campaign has changed the behaviors of many drivers. RoSPA developed an evaluation form that is randomly circulated to different companies whose drivers attended safe driver training courses by Tristar.

“Almost all of the feedbacks commented that refresher training would be very welcome, with annual training mentioned more than once. The training seems to have reduced accidents and fuel use, where this has been measured by the companies, which would suggest that the course achieved its stated aims,” concludes RoSPA.

This project has won two awards related to corporate social responsibility and road safety. On October 28, 2014, the Arabia CSR Network presented Tristar with an award for its initiative under the Partnership Project category in the 7th Arabia CSR Awards 2014. The network said that Tristar was “among a handful of shortlisted ones out of a total of 155 applications that span 25 industries and 12 countries in the MENA region.”

On December 9, 2014, Mr. Mayne received the prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in London from His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, who is the Patron of the Commission for Global Road Safety. Tristar was recognized for its extensive internal and external road safety programs.