No. 07 May. 99

1. Safety Alert No. 07 May. 99 Committed to Safety Driving BLIND ????? • What happened ? • End April a terrible car accident happened on the Muscat - Salalah high-way near Bahja. Four vehicles collided head-on at high speed. Seven people and 13 camels died. Visibility was poor because of thick fog (10-15 m visibility). • No PDO or Contractor vehicles were involved, but ………….. • At the same time ! • ……….., in the same fog, a PDO safety advisor stopped over 50 PDO and Contractor cars and trucks driving out to work from the Bahja contractors camp. The poor visibility apparently did not seem to make any difference to them. They could NOT see, yet they were still driving. They were lucky someone stopped them. They could have had a similar accident. • Why did the accident happen ? • The accident was the direct result of driving at high speed with extremely poor visibility. • What can you learn from this accident ? • Poor visibility and driving do not mix. Poor visibility can be caused by: Fog, Dust, Heavy Rain or even Smoke. • If you can not see: DO NOT START driving. DO NOT START your journey. Wait until visibility has improved. • If you are driving and visibility reduces: REDUCE SPEED and switch on your lights (dipped head lights and high intensity rear lights). If visibility reduces further: pull off the road, park at a safe distance and STOP driving. • ===============================================================Note for Supervisors: Make your staff understand this message !!!