MB Petroelum third party fatality

1
Safety Alert
07/98

Committed to Safety
Dangers of parking cars on a sloping road/driveway
Background A car accident
occurred recently in RAS al Hamra when a 4WD
vehicle, after being parked and locked on a hill,
rolled towards another 4WD parked behind,
resulting in a collision. Inside the second
vehicle were two children. One sustained small
wounds due to shattered glass, the other was
unharmed. Two other children, who were standing
outside of the second vehicle had to move quickly
out of the way of the rolling vehicle to avoid
being crushed.
Cause of the incident The possible causes of this
accident are - A failure in the
car handbrake system, and / or
- Inadequate setting of the handbrake.
- Non familiarity with risks of
parking on sloping road. Learning Points and
Action to Prevent Recurrence
- Ensure that your car handbrake is serviced
regularly by a professional at your official car
dealer. - Test the handbrake
reliability/efficiency yourself (while staying in
control of your car). - Preferably
park your car in a dedicated parking place. If
not possible, anticipate hazards prior to
leaving your car as it is.
- When you decide to park your car on a sloping
road, we recommend you to do the following 1)
car with a manual gearbox hand break ON
and once the car engine is stopped, engage
one gear (preferably the 2nd gear). 2)
car with an automatic gearbox, leave the
gearbox on P (parking) position and
hand break ON - Dont leave
children alone inside a car.
- Switch off your engine as soon as you decide to
leave your car even just for two minutes.