A seminar on road safety held in Doha today, underlines how driver training is not only socially responsible, but also profitable for companies of all sizes.
Participants agreed on the need for policy-makers to support internationally recognised training standards, with compulsory frameworks for qualifications for commercial road transport professionals.
IRU Academy presented its new Road Safety at Work: Online Course for Managers developed in cooperation with EASST and Cranfield. This first digital training course for managing fleet safety aims to reduce risks for commercial vehicles and public transport globally. It will play a very significant role in cutting road fatalities and achieving the targets of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.
The online course also supports the conclusions of an IRU/ Arab Union of Land Transport (AULT) study, The Impact of Professional Training on Commercial / Freight Drivers, which was endorsed by the League of Arab States (LAS) Council of Transport Ministers. Providing hard evidence of the benefits to businesses that a thorough approach to driver safety can bring, the study shows how better training results in less damage to vehicles and goods, reduced insurance, better staff retention and a significant reduction of work hours lost through accidents.
The seminar was co-organised with Karwa Driving School/Mowasalat under the patronage of the Qatari Minister of Transport, HE Jassem Saif Al Sulaiti and hosted by the Traffic Department of the Ministry of Interior.