Bank Sohar shares road safety tip for August
MUSCAT: As part of its continued focus on promoting road safety, Bank Sohar rolled out its ‘RakizWaSouq’ road safety tip for the month of August. This month, the bank draws focus on the importance of advising the parents and drivers not to let children climb through the sunroof of a vehicle while it is in motion.
Created under the slogan ‘I Pledge for Our Children’, the road safety campaign falls under the bank’s recently launched CSR emblem – Sohar Al Atta. The CSR initiative continues its numerous community centred endeavours that make a difference in the lives of people, every day. The campaign aims at delivering important advice on road safety through concise messages, thereby reinforcing the importance of following traffic rules while driving. This month’s message cautions against the reckless habit of peering out through the sunroof of a moving vehicle in light of the many possible hazards and fatalities that could result from it.
Emphasising the importance of the message, Munira Abdulnabi Macki, GM of Human Resources and Corporate Support at Bank Sohar said, “Each month we are committed to sharing important road safety messages under our ‘RakizWaSouq’ campaign. The initiative is something that Bank Sohar has pioneered out of its strong commitment towards collaborating on road safety programmes. Among them is driving home the message for passengers in a moving vehicle, especially children, to remain secured in their seats and not attempt to peer out of the sunroof, as it can be very dangerous. All too often, we see children scrambling across the seats to look out the sun roof of moving vehicles, which is extremely dangerous. That is why we diligently disseminate these safety tips as part of our ‘RakizWaSouq’ campaign so parents and children will realize the hazards of negligent and careless behaviour in a moving vehicle and be more cautious.”
The bank is keen on getting the message out there to encourage the habit of keeping children strapped in their seats and closely supervised when the vehicle is on the road. The safety tip is critical especially in the light of the many possible hazards and fatalities that could result from passengers balancing on the seats in an attempt to look out the sun roof when the vehicle is moving to ‘enjoy the experience’.
This could pose serious, lifethreatening risks as even the slightest jolt could result in severe injuries to the head and neck as these areas of the body would be exposed and vulnerable.
An unexpected manoeuvre or deceleration could result in unfortunate fatalities, especially when there is a sudden impact such as in an accident. Bank Sohar’s road safety tip for this month, therefore, seeks to alert parents and the public as well, to these possible hazards that arise out of such careless conduct when seated inside a moving vehicle.
“The bank’s campaign strat- egy deploys children as its ambassadors with the monthly traffic safety messages geared towards empowering them with knowledge on important aspects of road safety. The tips are often disseminated throughout local schools to educate children on their importance. We strongly feel that educating the child is educating the parent. Since it can be challenging to change the mindsets and habits of adults, we have come up with a strategy where children are the voices to ensure that our communication reaches the public. It also ensures that we plant the seed of safe road habits at an early age for future safe drivers,” Munira Macki added.
Promoting road safety has been a key component of Bank Sohar’s CSR initiatives right from its inception. It has over the years conducted various road shows and activities that have successfully spread awareness on the subject. The bank has also regularly collaborated with Royal Oman Police, government entities and various associations such as the Oman Road Safety Association (ORSA), to jointly organise and run various events and awareness campaigns across the Sultanate. Moreover, the bank participated during last year in the Oman Road Safety exhibition which was held in the Oman Exhibition Centre; in addition, the Bank participated in the GCC Traffic Week events in Buraimi and Al-Batinah North.