Caltex named exclusive sponsor for ‘Don’t drink and drive’ campaign
The ‘Don’t drink and drive’ campaign was launched near the Torrington square, Colombo 07 recently and the launch of the campaign was attended by Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, senior officials of the Sri Lanka Police Department and Road Development Authority, exclusive sponsor Caltex and the media.
Road accidents will be and are one of the main causes of deaths in Sri Lanka, and unfortunately the numbers have shown an escalation. Over the past four year period, from year 2012 to 2016 number of road accidents has increased from 32,652 to 41,981.
In the year 2016, 3,003 deaths, 2,824 fatal accidents, 8,518 critical accidents have been reported. The number of road accidents is known to peak during the holiday seasons in April and December, and the main cause of this is due to motorists driving under the influence of alcohol.
According to the government statistics, eight people per day have died in the year 2016 due to road accidents in Sri Lanka. Many have faced a lifetime in disability and many more have lost their loved ones, especially the bread winner of the family causing serious socio-economic burdens for the family as well as the country. This unfortunate situation can be and should be managed immediately through effective awareness on road safety.
Caltex has been the corporate leader promoting road safety in Sri Lanka for over a decade. This year to kick off the company’s CSR initiatives on promoting road safety, Caltex exclusively sponsored the ‘Don’t drink and Drive this season’ campaign organized by the Sri Lanka Police Department in collaboration with the MBC networks (Pvt.) Ltd.
Since the year 2003, Caltex has made significant contributions to promote road safety in Sri Lanka. ‘Caltex Drive Wise, Embrace Life’ road safety awareness campaign was launched in the year 2012 by Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC together with the Sri Lanka Traffic Police department.
In the year 2017 for the 13th year under the ‘Caltex Drive Wise, Embrace Life’ title, ‘Caltex drive wise, Embrace life 2017’ programme will be implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Law and order and Sri Lanka Police department to further strengthen the efforts to promote road safety. ‘Caltex drive wise, Embrace life 2017’ is also supported by the Road Development of Sri Lanka.
As per the plan this year Caltex will sponsor road safety cut outs with strong and emotional road safety messages and A-boards with road signage’s to be displayed and used by the Sri Lanka Police Department at public places such as near schools, police stations and markets. Further the company is planning on sponsoring ‘Train the Trainer’ programmes for the instructors of driving schools to address the identified need to provide updated and effective road safety awareness for the future generation.