ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN COMPETITION OFF TO GRAND START

Five teams, including an allwomen side will take part in the second edition of road safety campaign competition jointly organised by Public Authority for Social Insurance (PASI) and Oman Automobile Association (OAA).

The week-long contest was flagged off by chief guest Sayyid Mundhir bin Saif al Busaidi, Chairman of Oman Equestrian Federation, at the OAA Speed Arena on Friday.

Also present on the occasion were PASI General Manager Faisal Abdullah al Farsi, OAA Chairman Brigadier (Rtd) Salim bin Ali al Maskari, and other top officials from the Royal Oman Police, Pasi and OAA.

Sayyid Mundhir hoped that the campaign, titled ‘A message to private sector’, will help reach the road safety principles to the society.

“This campaign can make awareness in the society about various road safety principles and spread the need to follow the traffic rules with the coordination among the residents, government institutions, security agencies including Royal Oman Police and the common public,” he said.

PASI chief Faisal al Farsi said the social insurance body wants to reach out to people to reduce traffic accidents in the Sultanate.

“This is one of our principle aims to create awareness among the people on traffic and other work-place related accidents, the main reasons behind it.”

Al Farsi said the competition will help reach the ideas to youngsters and effectively reduce these accidents. “All the teams consist of youngsters and they will be successful in spreading these messages among the youth of the country.”

Faisal also expressed satisfaction about the significant participation by young Omani women in the road safety competition.

“We can see good participation by the women team for the campaign. This is an encouraging sign for the success of the awareness programme as the message reaches the families and the society in general,” the PASI official added.

OAA General Manager Suleiman al Rawahi said the OAA is happy to support the important initiative by PASI.

“It is the social responsibility of the OAA to support such initiatives which is related to the safety and well-being of the people in the country. We will give all the technical support to the road safety campaign competitions there by spreading the basic traffic principles among the society,” he said.

WOMEN PARTICIPATION Five teams are featuring in the competition which also includes campaign in public places and social media. A women-only team Oman Ladies Car Club, 4x4 Heroes Club, Oman Jeep Heroes, Oman Cadillac Group and Chargers Oman are the five sides in fray.

The first-place team will receive a purse of RO 2,000, while the second-place finishers will get RO 1,500 and the team in third spot gets RO 1,000.

In an interactive session later, young Oman racing prodigy Shihab al Habsi, the main ambassador for the initiative, voiced his support for the road safety principles.

“As a racing driver, I am fully committed to the road safety campaign. It’s great pleasure to get associated with the competition that will spread such messages among the people,” the youngster said.

The session was also attended by the women’s team captain Sanaa al Shukhaili along with the captains of the other four teams.

“We believe our team, a group of women involved in motorsports and related events at the OAA, can make a significant contribution in spreading these essential messages to the society. We believe that as sportswomen we need to connect to the people too,” Sanaa said.

Oman TV journalists Khamis al Balushi and Khalid al Shukhaili are the media ambassadors of the event. The three-member judging panel will announce the winners during the concluding ceremony on coming Friday, November 15 evening.

Drift exhibition shows, classic car and bike shows along with other motor shows were also staged at the OAA Speed Arena during the ceremony.

THE WEEKLONG CONTEST WAS FLAGGED OFF BY CHIEF GUEST SAYYID MUNDHIR BIN SAIF AL BUSAIDI, CHAIRMAN OF OEF