Caltex gears up to reinforce contributions towards road safety

Plaques of appreciation being handed over by Kishu Gomes to the partners of Caltex Drive Wise Embrace life – 2016 

Sri Lanka Police Department, S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia Class of 1982 Project Chairman Dinesh Fernando, TV Derana Chairman/Managing Director Dilith Jayaweera and EBC CEO Chalaka Gajabahu

Road accidents are preventable yet cause extremely high socio economic repercussions. According to the year 2015 statistics published by the Sri Lankan Government nearly 39,000 accidents have happened during the year of which 2,600 have been fatal. On average seven deaths per day was recorded. Many more have lost their loved ones, especially the family’s bread winner. This unfortunate situation can be and should be managed immediately through effective awareness on road safety.

Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC, manufacturer and marketer of Caltex branded lubricants in Sri Lanka is the company at the forefront in promoting road safety through the many awareness initiatives done over the past 12 years. Having identified and understood the dire need to address the urgency for effective road safety awareness, the company re-launched ‘Caltex Drive Wise, Embrace Life’ campaign in partnership with the Sri Lanka Police department, S. Thomas’ College Batch of ‘82, TV Derana and the EAP broadcasting media network.

Since the year 2003 Caltex has made significant contributions to promote road safety in Sri Lanka. The company has conducted street dramas at densely populated areas and has used placards with hard hitting road safety messages directed at the commuters to Colombo during peak traffic hours. Further the Caltex safety message cut-outs carrying important safety messages displayed island-wide at police stations, schools, and at locations where accidents most commonly occur, has strongly influenced road safety throughout the years.

 ‘Caltex Road Star’ launched in the year 2009 and ‘Caltex Drive Wise, Embrace Life’ launched in the year 2012 are the main road safety awareness campaigns conducted by Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC together with the Sri Lanka Traffic Police department. 

‘Caltex Drive Wise, Embrace Life – 2016’ is an extension to the original campaign with the addition of a cycle ride participated by the representatives of S. Thomas’ College Class of ‘82. ‘Caltex Drive Wise, Embrace Life – 2016 cycle ride’ will flag off on 25 October from Muttuval at 4 p.m. and will be ridding 1,300 kilometres around the country over a 12 day period. The cycle ride will conclude on 5 November with the final lap which will start near Prince of Wales College in Moratuwa, heading to S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia in a grand parade with the participation of students, well-wishers and many key stakeholders of Chevron, leading to the festivities at the Thomian Fair.

The Caltex Drive wise, Embrace life – 2016 campaign intends on educating the children as well as adults to inculcate short term and long term safe behaviour on the road. Aligned to the Caltex Drive Wise, Embrace Life – 2016 cycle ride, the road safety awareness activities such as seminars for school children, seminars for adults and mini carnivals will happen in Negombo, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Anuradhapura and Matara. 

With the support of the Ministry of Education and the Sri Lanka Police department special seminars will be conducted for students in over 25 schools in Sri Lanka. In association to Road safety topics essay and art competitions will also be held for the students and the winners will be rewarded by Chevron. There will be 10 programs organised for the adults in the five locations. The adults will be tested on the knowledge shared during the seminar and will be rewarded based on their performance. At the end of the two day local activity program a mini carnival will be organised at each of the five towns to promote road safety amongst all through a fun and entertainment filled experience.

 “Increase in road accidents during the recent years indeed is a grave problem and needs to be addressed immediately for the betterment of all Sri Lankans. We hope that through Caltex Drive wise, Embrace life – 2016 campaign, the required corrective measures will be instilled to reduce and eliminate such occurrences in the future,” commented Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kishu Gomes.