Monday 19th, August 2013
MUSCAT -- In a pact that employs creativity and a variety of media to cut down the number of road accidents and fatalities in the country, Oman LNG and Oman Road Safety Association (ORSA), yesterday agreed to highlight the debilitating effects of bad habits on the roads using short animated films. The signing of the pact was also the springboard for the launch of the Oman LNG's road safety mascot. While the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NSCI) recently reported a significant drop in the number of road accidents in Oman, stakeholders hold the view that more can still be done to curb the menace of road accidents and fatalities that plague citizens and residents. The short animated films to run for 30 seconds at a time is focused on a set of twins -- Shama'a and Mishal -- as central characters who find themselves in various scenarios that in the end provide lessons and morals about safety on our roads.
The films will be deployed through a variety of channels including cinemas, television and social media to spread the message far and wide to reach audiences. The initiative is the latest in a bulk of determined effort spearheaded by Oman LNG to cut down the number of accidents on roads. In one such scheme, the company joined hands with Shell, the Royal Oman Police (ROP), Omantel and media organisations to sponsor a set of 50 lectures mostly delivered by Shaikh Khalfan al Esry to many audiences across the length and breadth of the Sultanate. In Sur, home to its plant, Oman LNG has pioneered a string of new projects including supporting the building of speed bumps, a pedestrian bridge, lamp posts and defensive driving workshops. "At Oman LNG, we believe that we cannot over-emphasise safety in all we do and this applies to every one of us. This has driven us to carry out all our activities with the care they demand. This attitude of caution should similarly guide all road users as a way of bringing down the number of casualties and fatalities on our roads. Our latest partnership with ORSA, employing a creative way to spread the message aims to further play up the importance of caution," said Harib al Kitani, Oman LNG's Chief Executive Officer.
Dr Wahid Ali al Kharusi, Chairman of Oman Road Safety Association, said: 'We are delighted to partner up with Oman LNG in this great project. Youth are very essential target group in road safety and approaching them with the right message and channel is very critical. The idea of the short films is wonderful and I am really looking forward to it. I would like to thank Oman LNG and the team behind this project from both organisations and wish the all the best." Shaima Murtadha al Lawati, Chief Executive Officer, said: "The idea is to develop 20 short films carrying road safety messages targeting mainly youth aged from 18 to 35 years but with indirect effect on parents, siblings, grandparents, community and general public -- each film is around 30-40 seconds long.
We are very enthusiastic about this project, Oman Road Safety Association will assist Oman LNG in identifying characters to be used to approach the target group, develop scenarios and write script and storyboard tackling issues of road safety in Oman and providing informative approach (showing advantages/risks involved in any action the driver or a passenger takes) to ensure effective communication of required messages through the visual direction of the films.
© Oman Daily Observer 2013
