Qatargas is aiming to persuade more drivers and passengers to wear their seat belts, with a ride on its “convincer’’ crash simulator at the Villagio Mall, Doha from 17 to 23 August.
The convincer will be in operation from 2.00 pm to 9.00 pm each day, and reproduces the effect of being in a road crash at between five and ten kilometres per hour (kph). Passengers are strapped into a car seat and are then launched towards a buffer. Even at this low speed, the collision causes a powerful jolt. Any one not wearing a seat belt risks injury or worse. Even at five kph a crash can have serious consequences.
Qatargas Onshore Project Manager, Jim Gardiner said: “It’s vital that passengers as well as drivers wear their seat belts to ensure that they are not hurt or even killed. We’re sure that when people feel the force of even a low-speed collision, they will take extra care to ensure that they and their families, especially their children, are made secure when in vehicles. The convincer campaign is proving very effective with our workers and we hope that by making the programme more widely available we can help to keep more people safe when they travel.”
The convincer seat-belt awareness campaign is being run by the Onshore Incident and Injury Free (IIF) team working on the Qatargas 3 and Qatargas 4 expansion projects at Ras Laffan, with assistance from the local expat community in Doha. So far, over 7,500 workers on the projects have been through the convincer programme and Qatargas is keen to use the ride’s power of persuasion to convince more people that they must wear their seat belts.
A special T-shirt will be awarded to everyone who rides on the convincer.
