BRAC recently organized an international level training for the transport drivers of the Bangladesh Navy, focusing on awareness building and behavioral change for safe driving. 22 drivers of the Bangladesh Navy participated in the three-day-long training at BRAC’s driving school in Uttara in the capital, starting on 22 April 2018.
The course appropriately combines hands-on training and theoretical knowledge with a special focus on the former.
BRAC undertook the training titled ‘Road safety and safe driving training’, in short, ‘Surokkha’, in 2014, realizing that raising awareness and capacity building are critical in reducing the extremely high rate of road crashes in Bangladesh. In this initiative, BRAC has partnered with Hubert Ebner Ltd, an internationally acclaimed organization specializing in automobile driving training and road safety issues.
Trainees are exposed to lessons related to safety measures on the road, techniques on self-protection while driving, and desired behavioral change. For the practical competency part of the training, drivers are tested on their ability to operate safely through the ‘P-Drive’ technique.
Under BRAC’s road safety programme, BRAC Driving School similarly trained over 1,200 individuals so far. It has been observed that drivers who underwent the ‘Surokkha’ training were reported to have displayed a considerable change in their behavior in adapting to safe driving techniques.
Bangladesh Road and Transport Authority (BRTA), Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority in a recent news report attributed over 90 percent road crash to rash driving. Experts stress awareness raising and capacity building for skilled, safe and responsible driving to reduce the excessively high rate of road crashes.
A discussion session also took place during the training in which Lieutenant Commander Sanjida Hossain and Lieutenant Commander M Enayet Hossain were present. The speakers at the discussion emphasized that the drivers should mindfully apply their learning in the training while behind the steering wheel.
