Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has celebrated a new Guinness World Record for installing the highest number of solar reflective lights ever on a road.
The Company has fitted 43,550 sun-powered “cat’s eye” units on a 650 kilometre stretch of highway in the south of its concession area from Haima to Salalah via Nimr, Marmul, Harweel and Thamrait.
The LED (light-emitting diode) reflective studs are charged by the sun during the day and automatically turn on when the light is low, at night or in a harsh weather environment, such as fog, rain or sandstorms.
Since the installation of the reflectors was completed in February, there has not been a single fatality or accident at night or in inclement conditions on the route.
PDO Managing Director Raoul Restucci was presented with a commemorative shield from Guinness Book of World Records representative Ahmed Gamaledin Ahmed Gabr at a special ceremony at the Crowne Plaza Muscat. The Company’s new record beats the previous one set in Japan over a 220 kilometre distance.
Restucci said: “PDO is strongly committed to road safety and we have launched a range of different initiatives to reduce hazards and improve driving standards and vehicle maintenance. These solar reflective lights represent one such initiative but they have significantly helped to avoid accidents due to poor visibility and make motoring safer for the many thousands of people — PDO staff, contractors and members of the general public — who use the route. “This project combines two of our key priorities — road safety and renewable energy — and I am delighted that our efforts have been recognised as a global record.”
The installation work took just over four months to complete and was assigned to Omani-Dutch company Fijen TMLE BV LLC.
The firm is based at Ghubra North in Muscat and has more than 10 years of international experience in road solar lighting.
PDO has also fitted more solar cat’s eyes over a further 444 kilometre distance from Naith through Fahud, Lekhwair and Ibri in the north of its concession area, and is aiming to cover a further 494 kilometres on three stretches of road from Adam to Thumrait (a dual carriageway), Natih to Ibri and Ghaba to Saih Rawl via Qarn Alam by March.
At the same ceremony, PDO’s Road Safety team celebrated a company record achievement of 750 million kilometres driven without a work-related fatal road accident. The distance is the equivalent of making seven return journeys to Mars.
Restucci said: “This is a result of a committed and comprehensive focus on road safety based on compliance, training, education, technology and ongoing communication with all our people to ensure they know the critical importance of driving safely and maintaining their vehicles properly.
“Working with our key stakeholders, we have been able to roll out a raft of different initiatives which have transformed our road safety record. However, we can never rest and our efforts must be redoubled to continue to enable everyone to return home safely at the end of each day.”
As part of the festivities, PDO’s contractor and sub-contractors top 75 drivers were also presented with Best Driver awards, for their contribution to helping PDO road safety performance reach a world-class standard.
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