BINTULU, May 21: In pursuit of delivering positive social outcomes and building strong, lasting relationships with its communities, Shell MDS Malaysia conducted a road safety awareness programme for the people of Kampung Sungai Plan under the #ShellSelamatSampai community outreach initiative.
In collaboration with the Bintulu Resident Office, the programme took place at Dewan Serbaguna, Kampung Sungai Plan, recently.
The programme, which garnered about 1,500 participants from all age groups, was also supported by Rela, Shell Advance, Bintulu Shell Retailers and JKKK Kampung Sungai Plan Lot Bintulu.
“In conjunction with the upcoming Gawai and Hari Raya celebrations, we, at Shell MDS Malaysia, organised this programme to create awareness to the Bintulu community on the importance of staying safe on the road, especially during this festive season.
“Safety is always a priority with Shell MDS Malaysia, and we believe that our sharing on our safety culture will benefit the local community on the measures that need to be taken when it comes to road safety,” shared Chris Schultz, general manager of Shell MDS Malaysia.
The outreach programme comprised many activities, one being a ‘Motorcycle Maintenance’ workshop conducted by the Shell Advance team. The workshop educated motorcyclists on proper motorcycle maintenance approaches and road safety tips. A hands-on demo on motor-oil change was also conducted as part of this session.
There were two simulation activities at the outreach programme. The ‘Seat-Belt Convincer’ was a crash simulator that enabled participants to personally experience the impact of a car crash with the aim to create awareness on the importance of putting on the seat belts for everyone in a vehicle, regardless if they are the driver, front passenger or rear passenger.
Another simulation allowed road users to test their driving habits. Here, the simulator pointed out the various mistakes made by road users and the consequences of these mistakes to them as well as other people on the road.
Apart from these, a Shell haulier was brought in to expose participants to blind spots that needed to be avoided while on the road and when approaching big vehicles, such as trucks and tankers.
There were also games that allowed participants to win #ShellSelamatSampai merchandise when they successfully identified road signage or answered a road safety question correctly. Children between 5 and 12 years of age enjoyed #ShellSelamatSampai comic book story-telling and colouring competitions that were related to road safety.
“We believe that this community outreach programme will be able to create awareness on the importance of road safety to the local communities while equipping them with the right knowledge on safety measures. This awareness will help instil the proper understanding of road safety to the local community.”
Shell MDS Malaysia, which was commissioned in 1993, celebrated its 25th anniversary last August. According to Shultz, this achievement would not have been made a reality without strong support from the Sarawak government. Though this community outreach programme, Shell MDS Malaysia believes that social impact due to recklessness and the wrong attitude on the road can be mitigated.
Besides the community outreach programme, there are other programmes under the #ShellSelamatSampai flagship and one of the main ones is the #ShellSelamatSampai School Challenge. In this initiative, 20 secondary schools nationwide compete annually to implement road safety intervention projects that benefit the school and the surrounding communities.
Shell Malaysia has been a strong advocate for the improvement of road safety culture amongst Malaysians since 1957. #ShellSelamatSampai was established in 2016 with the aim to comprehensively drive road safety awareness and behavioural change among motorcyclists and youth, who contribute to the highest fatality rate in road crashes in Malaysia. — DayakDaily
