By the nature of their work humanitarian agencies are more than likely to be working in insecure and remote areas with limited resources to safely operate their fleets. However, in my experience, the majority of these agencies do not put into place correct systems and procedures for maintenance and safe operation of their vehicles to counter this.

A vehicle is the lifeline of any humanitarian work. Making it safe relies upon the commitment of managers from the top down to ensure procedures are put into place and followed. Fleet management is, at times, put in the hands of personnel who have more of an administrative than technical background. The fleet safety then becomes compromised as the national mechanic and driver start to maintain and run the fleet their way. Dangerous assumptions can be made.

Generally this two part component does not have the appropriate knowledge, due to a lack of correct training, to safely operate the lifeline but they are relied upon more and more. Poor attention to detail, attitude toward safety and a "just keep it going" attitude then prevail. And guess who gets blamed when things go wrong?

Motor vehicle crashes and collisions ARE avoidable. A zero tolerance attitude must be taken by organisations otherwise the unacceptable statistics of vehicle related injury and death in humanitarian sector alone will still prevail.

Each incident can be identified as a chain of errors made by the organisations' staff.

An example: Northern Uganda 4 years ago

A humanitarian worker was injured and medivac'd. One of the organisation’s vehicles had a faulty fuel gauge. The system was not fixed before the vehicle went out to carry out field work in a potentially hostile area (at the time).

The vehicle RAN OUT OF FUEL in a remote area towards dusk. An emergency call was sent to field office. An international member of staff with little or no training on 4wd vehicle operation went to the rescue.

Driving too fast to the rescue he lost control and overturned the vehicle. Now two vehicles were stranded and one person injured, possibly seriously, in a potentially hostile environment. Luckily no one was killed.

As in all cases, this was avoidable if correct systems and training had been put in place and followed.

The Basics

When carrying out training we always go through a pre use vehicle inspection. On one session in Sudan I had rejected 25% of the organisations' vehicles that we were supposed to train in because they were unsafe.

Tyres

• Example: Low / high/ uneven pressure.
  Reason Given: No tyre pressure gauge available. The only one in use was in the local market place attached to the compressor that most organisations used. The calibration of this gauge as in most areas has to suspect. Most drivers had never seen a pen type tyre gauge before!
• Example: Tread level below acceptable limit.
  Reason Given: Acceptable limit for driving on unsealed roads not known, therefore running on the "local" procedure of get the most life out of it.
  Reason Given: New tyres had been requested but had been denied because the "in charge" had deemed there was more life in them.
• Example: Cuts on and badly damaged side walls.
  Reason Given: No need to change yet as tread level still ok.
• Example: Running on cross-ply tyres.
  Reason Given: Cheapest tyre available. Did not know the difference between cross-ply and radial tyres and the safety implications there of.
• Example: Running a mix of cross-ply and radial tyres.
  Reason Given: Unaware of the types of tyres and therefore unaware that it was safety issue.

( the latest photos are posted here )

This year the 4X4 event was in aid of the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary and aptly dubbed the "Chimp Challenge". The decision was made after the main players at City Tyres went out for a visit and appreciated the great work that the sanctuary is doing. For more info on Ngamba Island visit their site or even better take a trip out and watch the chimps being fed. Well worth it.

And it has already been decided that next year's event will be for the same cause.

A much larger turn out than usual meant more money was raised (18,100,000/= Ush raised!). All proceeds went to the cause. As usual everyone involved in organization of the event gave services free of charge, so no overheads. Thanks to all for that as it makes a big difference in the amount handed over at the end of the day. City Tyres did a great job, as usual, with advertising the event, registering all competitors and getting on board a very generous set of sponsors. As well as covering all expenses that went to the overall running of the day. Including lunch and drinks to everyone that turned up!

Thanks to all the competitors for making it such a great day. With the raised number of teams we cut out one event, the spare wheel changing, to keep everything running on time.

A change was made on the skills trial giving all competitors 2 runs at the "Congo Highway". The rains had made the course interesting. The recovery team was kept quite busy towing out stuck teams. Even on the divorce derby! The balance beam and the skills trial seemed to attract most of the spectators. Although the relay race at the end of the day was quite a big crowd puller with some "interesting" driving on display.

Thomas from Nalubale Rafting has made a fabulous DVD of he event. As he did last year. These are available for purchase from City Tyres. All proceeds to the chimps.

Teams that walked off with prizes;

• 1st Place: Dunroving. Defending champs.
• 2nd Place: Hi Ratio. 1st time at the event.
• 3rd Place: Classic. Mel and Tony still not able to get the trophy back.
• Mototech took a prize for joint 1st in the relay race. (a one man team who had to get out and run around his vehicle to simulate changing drivers!)

Most everyone took home a prize from the raffle. Thanks again to the sponsors for the generous prizes. Thanks to all the others who took part, in particular Warid who entered 4 teams and smoked a few clutches on the balance beam.

Please enter again next year; it's going to be even better. The date for next year's "Challenge". Saturday 2nd May. Start preparing your vehicles now.

Below is all information relating to the 4x4 Chimp Charge. All proceeds raised from the 4x4 fun day are in support of the CHIMPANZEE SANCTUARY & WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TRUST.

Forms and news will be added /updated as and when details are confirmed. The event is sponsored and organised by City Tyres Uganda and the CSWCT with technical support from OnCourse. For further event planning, sponsorship, volunteering, enrolment, payments and administrative information, please contact City Tyres directly:

About CSWCT:

Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary was established in October 1998 to care for chimps confiscated/rescued within Uganda. In addition to providing a safe home and ensuring the welfare of our wild cousins, the establishment's other goals  is to care for the environment on Ngamba Island, to provide a high quality educational experience for visitors as well as benefiting the island local communities.

Chimpanzees taken from the wild endure incredible hardship and terror. Once in the safety of the Sanctuary, they need a great deal of care and attention - both physically and emotionally. The Sanctuary provides the chimpanzees with food, medical care, security, and, perhaps most importantly, the social companionship of other chimpanzees - the very things they lack as victims of the pet trade. Once more, the Sanctuary is committed to providing this care for the rest of their natural lives - up to 60 + years of age. Read More ...

• By Mick Farmer.
• Published November 30, 2007.
• Rescue tools by nov8safety USA - "gift for life".
• Items are in stock (in Kampala).
• Life Hammer is 35,000/= (approx 21.00$). Inclusive of VAT.
• ResQMe is 20,000/= (approx 11.40$). Inclusive of VAT.

Convincing folk to wear seat belts has been a big issue for me over the last ten years of being a 4X4 driver trainer. Some people come up with the most ludicrous excuses not to wear them. I asked one expat, living here in Uganda, why he doesn't wear his seatbelt. And he replied, because he's a better driver than all the nationals!!

If we take into account that the emerging nations have about 80 percent of the global death tally from road traffic incidents his rationality seems a little shaky!

When I first came to Uganda driving was described as a series of near misses, or Muzungu kissing, as one national driver called it. Unfortunately it’s now progressed into the full on Glaswegian type.

Wrong information is given out by people who think they know what they are talking about. For instance, I heard from some drivers and aid workers that they were told not to wear their seat belts because they are working in a hostile environment. This wise piece of advice was given out by the so called security officer of the organisation! What nonsense. If we look at any hostile environment where aid workers are working we'll find that one of the largest cause of death and injury is from being involved in a collision, not being shot at. Or, even having to evacuate the vehicle under cross fire for that matter.

But one of the most common excuses I get for not wearing seat belts is that people are afraid of getting stuck in a crashed vehicle with seat belt jammed and, if we take it to worse case, can't open the doors with the vehicle on fire.

Enter the Life Hammer. A simple piece of equipment that can be placed centrally in the vehicle so that all occupants can reach it. It cuts belts and breaks windows. Be aware that it will only break toughened glass, i.e. the side windows of most vehicles. These have come under some criticism because the hammering part has to be done quite aggressively and may take repeated hits to break the glass.

A piece of equipment that I've found to be very effective is the ResQMe. Made by the same company as life hammer but, in my opinion, a lot more effective. It's got a sharp shielded blade which slices through belts easily and when you press it against the side glass, in the corner, the glass just shatters from the spring loaded Glaswegian being released. And then it resets itself; ready to be used again. And it's a key ring! And it works.

I recently and successfully tested one whilst on a first responder (First person on scene) course in the UK. And no, they didn't teach me how to steal someone’s jacket whilst they were trapped inside the vehicle.

For peace of mind well worth the investment. Just don't test it on your own vehicle!

Belt up. It makes sense.

November 30, 2007. There is a bit of debate about how to get the most effective driver training carried out, especially as most clients want to train to the situation and environment that their drivers and staff will be operating in.

When OnCourse started carrying out driver training for their workshop clients, we didn't have a specialist training area and we would go to the client. While this is quite effective, because we could deal with specific road conditions, there were a few issues that caused concern.

The main being safety. And still is as we still carry out training for clients in situ. What we find is that it is difficult to find safe training areas to effectively carry out the practical exercises.

The last thing we need is, when promoting road safety issues, is an innocent bystander to get injured. Controlling the public, especially as they have as much right to use the roads as we do, can be difficult if not impossible at times. Also, we have to take into consideration that general road safety issues are not addressed in rural communities throughout the developing world. For example, children are still not taught the basics in schools and therefore this is a main contributor for local populations to not have the same road sense, if you like. For instance; once we had to stop a self recovery training session because the onlookers refused (including the local big wigs) to move out of the danger zone.

Another problem we encounter with carrying out the training on site is distractions. Students may turn up late for class or be taken out of class to fulfil obligations for the client. Not only does this have an effect on the class as a whole but that person will be missing important issues.

On site training does not flow as well. You have to spend a chunk of time going through theory and then go out to the training site. Not only does this affect the effectiveness, it can also increase the amount of time that we have to spend carrying out the training, therefore a whole syllabus may not be covered and the clients costs goes up to cover the extra session(s).

Therefore, we made the decision (nearly 10 years ago now) to develop a training site to cater for the different off road driving environments commonly found in developing countries.

This has enabled us to develop our courses with a structure that enables us to back up the theoretical with appropriate practical exercises immediately. This gives a definite flow to the training that ensures effectiveness. It also, ensures that the training is carried out in the timeliest manner making it as cost effective as possible for the client. With safety being our first concern.

OnCourse have a privately owned and secure driver training facility that mirrors the driving conditions found in developing countries, as well as specialist training areas and equipment which enables us to safely carry out practical exercises that are not able to be carried out on site.

Of course developing this type of facility is forever ongoing. For instance we are in the process of putting in an off road skid correction facility and sprinkler system to cater for the dry season months.

We are on-course for being the most effective 4x4, off road training facility internationally.