Caltex to help Govt reduce road accident fatalities

Road accidents cause the most number of annual deaths in Sri Lanka. On an average ?150 road accidents and six deaths occur on a daily basis?. Caltex steps forward for the 5th consecutive year, together with the Sri Lanka Traffic Police to make Sri Lankan roads safer for citizens, especially child commuters, through its ?Drive Wise & Embrace Life? mass media communication campaign.

The Company?s concerted efforts to increase awareness through thought-provoking campaign messages on road safety since 2009 are all part of a long-term CSR plan conceptualized by Caltex to curtail the epidemic proportions of road accident injuries and fatalities in Sri Lanka.

The campaign ?Drive Wise and Embrace Life? was designed with a special emphasis given to children. To date, over Rs.20 million has been invested by Caltex towards road safety initiatives impacting the social and economic development of the country.

?Each year, millions of rupees are incurred by the government towards hospitalization due to the high occurrence of road accidents and injuries in the country. Not only that, several innocent children and adults succumb to fatal injuries caused by negligent and reckless driving and commuting behaviors. We strongly believe that sustainable improvement in road safety will follow only once the reckless behaviors of motorists and pedestrians can be positively influenced and impacted through repetitive awareness and reinforcement? commented Kishu Gomes, Managing Director/CEO, Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC.

"As such, all our road safety CSR initiatives to date have been developed on the premise of creating more awareness and reinforcement among commuters across all walks of life. After all, safety is everyone's responsibility" he continued.

Corporate responsibility is embodied in the organization's values and the way it operates. The social responsibility projects carried out by Chevron is driven largely by a commitment to socio-economic development, based on research that considers the medical, social, economic, and cultural dynamics shaping the future of Sri Lanka. According to the organization, community partnerships and being socially responsible are fundamental to the broader success of the business as it assists in ways that help stimulate economic growth and enable communities to prosper.