Road Safety

In addition to our various programmes mentioned below, Shell Development Oman has played an important role in establishing and supporting Oman’s first public associated dedicated to Road Safety – “The Oman Road Safety Association” (ORSA).

The Defensive Driving Course for School Bus Drivers

To ensure the safety and wellbeing of school students across Oman, we have collaborated with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to carry out a comprehensive defensive driving training programme for school bus drivers.  This programme helps school bus drivers strengthen their awareness of the fundamental rules of the road and how to appropriately cope with, and avoid, dangerous situations. 

This programme, which runs annually, equips school bus drivers with the essential theoretical and practical road safety knowledge.  Over the course of 2012, 180 bus drivers were separated into different groups, representing different educational regions, and were instructed by professional defensive driving experts from the Royal Oman Police (ROP) Traffic Safety Institute. 

The bus drivers learned about key issues such as maintaining safe speed limits, keeping safe distances from other vehicles, wearing safety belts at all times and being aware of their surroundings on the road.  Alongside these vital topics, the school bus drivers learned invaluable skills such as journey planning and focusing techniques.

The Shell Road Safety Awards

To ensure the safety and wellbeing of school students across Oman, we have collaborated with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to carry out a comprehensive defensive driving training programme for school bus drivers.  This programme helps school bus drivers strengthen their awareness of the fundamental rules of the road and how to appropriately cope with, and avoid, dangerous situations. 

This programme, which runs annually, equips school bus drivers with the essential theoretical and practical road safety knowledge.  Over the course of 2012, 180 bus drivers were separated into different groups, representing different educational regions, and were instructed by professional defensive driving experts from the Royal Oman Police (ROP) Traffic Safety Institute. 

The bus drivers learned about key issues such as maintaining safe speed limits, keeping safe distances from other vehicles, wearing safety belts at all times and being aware of their surroundings on the road.  Alongside these vital topics, the school bus drivers learned invaluable skills such as journey planning and focusing techniques.

The Women Road Safety Programme

While the Royal Oman Police is making every effort to increase awareness about the perils of speeding and bad driving, Shell Development Oman (SDO) is also working towards raising public awareness and reducing accidents on Oman’s roads. To change the grim statistics of road fatalities and injuries, Shell felt the need of a novel approach towards minimising the problem.

We believe that the social inclusion of women is an important step in reducing road accidents in Oman. To this end, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development, we have launched the “Shell road Safety Awareness Programme for Women” - an initiative to empower women to play a leading role in spreading road safety awareness.

Women across Oman often play a vital leadership role in their families and communities, which was one of the main driving forces behind this programme. Passing on their knowledge will help safeguard the wellbeing of families and society as a whole and will ensure that Oman’s roads are kept safe.

The first step of this programme involves training 50 women volunteers, from 25 Omani Women’s Associations, to be road safety ambassadors in charge of passing on their expertise to their peers. A road safety specialist then conducts classes for these women volunteers in “train the trainer” sessions.

The second stage of the initiative involves the newly trained women ambassadors to reach out to people in various towns across the Sultanate. Classes are conducted across Oman and, training material, supplied by Shell, helps to create an impactful change on the perception of road safety by road users. One of the many road safety initiatives it has undertaken, Shell hopes that the influence of women on the driving practices of their loved ones and communities will help make Oman’s roads safer.