Safety No.

07
Committed to Alert May. 99
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 !!!