Muscat: The deadline to submit road safety initiatives from wilayats, government agencies, non-governmental agencies, private-sector establishments, and individuals for the Traffic Safety Competition falls on July 13 this year. The trophies and financial awards will be distributed on October 18, senior officials from the Royal Oman Police (ROP) said, yesterday.
For the first time, the ROP is presenting trophies and awards for the best road safety initiative to encourage widespread participation in all categories and to enhance road safety and reduce accidents.
"In response to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said's instructions on October 18, 2010, a traffic safety symposium was held that year. The symposium accepted 20 recommendations on traffic safety that were approved by His Majesty. One of the recommendations was to mark the occasion of His Majesty's speech on October 18 every year by recognising that day as Traffic Safety Day, where trophies and financial awards would be presented to any wilayat, establishment, or individual who suggested an effective initiative for traffic safety.
Accordingly, it was decided to start a Traffic Safety Competition between the wilayats, government agencies, non-governmental agencies, private-sector establishments, and individuals," Brigadier Mohammed bin Awad Al Rawas, Director-General Traffic at the ROP, stated.
According to the official, the competition is aimed at involving these agencies and individuals in spreading road safety awareness.
"We want to encourage the private sector to train and qualify road users, implement road safety schemes, and highlight the efforts of organisations and individuals in reducing road accidents," Al Rawas said.
Several conditions have been set by the ROP for the competition: The competing works must have clear objectives that are consistent with the objectives of the competition, and the works must be implemented ahead the competition, and must be proven effective in reducing road accidents.
At the wilayats level, the competition includes conducting activities to spread traffic awareness in the wilayat, implementing schemes that serve the community and improve road safety measures in the wilayat, designing and implementing traffic awareness programmes in the wilayat, finding solutions to the causes of accidents, involving the whole community in the wilayat in reducing accidents, and any other activities that may help in reducing road accidents and may be conducted within the framework of the competition.
For organisations, the competition includes creating schemes to serve the community and help reduce accidents, preparing and implementing efficient awareness programmes and spreading a traffic safety culture, contributing to training road users, spreading road safety knowledge among the staff of various establishments and community members, setting regulations and mechanisms within an establishment to effectively enhance road safety procedures, and any other activities that can be implemented within the framework of the competition.
Safety awareness
For individuals, the competition includes conducting activities that spread traffic safety awareness and reduce road accidents within the community, creating applicable traffic safety awareness programmes and techniques, and any other initiative that has already been implemented to support road-accident reduction efforts.
The application forms for the different categories are available on the ROP website.
The financial awards for wilayats, organisations, and individuals have been divided into three categories.
"For the wilayats, the first prize is OMR40,000 in cash. The second prize is OMR30,000, and the third prize is OMR20,000.
"For the NGOs and private-sector organisations, the first prize is OMR7,000 in cash, the second prize is OMR5,000, and the third prize is OMR3,000. For individuals, the first prize is OMR5,000 in cash, the second prize is OMR3,000, and the third prize is OMR2,000," the official added.