By Edward Kawamba
Many of us get to a point in our careers where we think the company that we work for couldn’t care less about us, as long as they make their money. For Zahair Saib the 3rd of May 2022, marked the day that these thoughts of underappreciation would be completely disproved.
It was meant to be a relaxed Sunday afternoon drive, and so Zahair thought. The left lane was smooth as he cruised at 125km/hr on the N3 eastbound passing The Pavilion Shopping Centre. As he approached the N2 off ramp, he switched lanes in preparation for the exit on the left, when suddenly a white VW Caddy Van lost control in the far-right lane, came across both the centre lanes and crashed into the rear passenger door of Zahair Toyota Hilux in a ‘T’ collision.
The Hilux veered on the barrier with the impact at 125km/hr and was airborne before rolling down the embankment. During the fall, which was about 20 to 30 meters from the main road, Zahair felt his life flash before his eyes as he doubted his chance of survival. After the Hilux rolled twice and landed on all four wheels in a ravine, Zahair opened his eyes to realize he had only sustained minor scrapes and bruises amidst a horrific wreckage, his life was spared!
So what does Yamada Lubrication PTY Ltd have to do with Zahair surviving with his life? It’s called HALO, the market leading Roll Over Protection System. Flashback few months prior when Yamada Lubrication PTY Ltd top management decided to have their staff surrender their vehicles for a few weeks for the installation of some “Rollbar on their bakkies”. However this wasn’t any kind of “Rollbar”, behind the scenes were HALO certified installation technicians fixing the innovatively engineered Halo model “H16” to their Toyota Hilux fleet of double cab bakkies.
“To put it simply, in an event of an rollover vehicle accident, the HALO protection system allows your vehicle to roll over like a cylinder and not like a cube” Susie Bozzini, Global President of Safety Engineering International explained.
This is successfully achieved through the HALO structure which is a High Attenuation Load Offset device that is attached to a production vehicle roof, reduces the amount of crush and the speed of that same crush when the vehicle experiences a rollover crash to prevent catastrophic and fatal injuries to the occupants.
Yamada Lubrication PTY Ltd chose to do what was necessary for safety, not to avoid losing a staff member, but avoid losing the life of a man, father and son.
“Yamada Lubrication PTY Ltd saved my life!” – Zahair Saib.
Comments