Monday 23 / December / 2024
Muscat: “Try to be careful, do not overspeed, and watch others around you. Start and pick the right time to move, especially for a long journey.”
That was the message from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Oman Road Safety Association, (ORSA) as he urged drivers to ‘relax’ during Ramadan and only use their cars if they had too.
Read also: Working hours during Ramadan announced in Oman
With the holy month almost here, ORSA CEO Ali Al Barwani was speaking to Times TV’s Lunchtime Live show, and said ORSA had also launched the ‘Slow Down Oman’ campaign, inspired by the United Nations #SlowDown initiative.
“United Nations started the campaign from May 8 to 14. We said it’s not enough and let’s continue it during Ramadan.”
Through the campaign, they (United Nations) want to highlight the importance of speed management and advise people to drive slow and not be in a rush while fasting. “People sometimes are so tired and still want to drive. Don’t do that. Plan your journey,” he recommended.
Although accident rates in Oman have been lower this year, compared with the last, the number is still high.
“Oman has one of the higher rates of accident, not only in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) but globally,” said Ali. “In 2012, 1,139 were killed on Oman’s roads. Six people every day are killed on an average,”he said.
“Last year, the number had come down to 693. The number of fatalities is down by half,” he added.
Explaining the main causes for the accidents, Al Barwani said, “Speed is the number one killer. Number two is phone. Also, seat belt in the front seat is mandatory by law, but for the rear passenger, not yet.”
While Ali said he believed that awareness was the key to reducing road accidents, statistically, every time a new road is opened for the public the accident rates reduce dramatically. “First of all awareness should be there. But the most important thing is new roads. Especially between cities and towns. If you go through the last 20 years, there is a nice graph that shows every time there is a new road, it dramatically reduces the number of accidents. For example, the Sur to Quriyat road which had a lot of accidents (high accident rate) has gone down.”
The Al Batinah governorate accounted for 20.3 per cent of the total accidents in Oman. “Al Batinah is full of people. Hence, the number of accidents on the road is high. Higher the traffic, higher the likelihood of accidents.”
According to Al Barwani, the opening of the new section of the Al Batinah expressway is great news and will result in a drastic decline in accident rates, once completed. “The entire Al Batinah road may be completed by the end of this year.”
Other accident prone regions in Oman include the Muscat to Salalah road, which saw two fatal accidents last month. Al Barwani is also positive about the new Oman to Saudi road, the route for which has also witnessed its fair share of accidents in the past.
“This is good, especially for people who go to Hamra. We hear a lot of tragic accidents when people go to Hamra. Very bad accidents, especially between buses.” According to a recent report published in the Arabian Business magazine, Indians have topped the list nationals involved in accidents and claims during Ramadan in the UAE. Commenting on that, Al Barwani said, “Many people came to Oman to help in projects. When they come, there is a lack in induction (for driving on) Oman roads as no one has given them the right awareness.”
“Most campaigns that happen in Oman are mostly in Arabic,” he added, saying non-Arabic speaking expatriates are left unaware and uneducated about the roads and driving ethics in Oman, which could be dangerous for a country that has more than one million cars running on its streets.
