Women with Drive
MasterDrive has welcomed in Transport Month with their inaugural Women with Drive event. Despite the challenges created by COVID-19 the event went ahead as planned but as a virtual colloquium instead.
The managing director of MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, says Women with Drive has become such an important part of our calendar that there was no doubt it would go ahead. "Rather than be discouraged by the challenges of COVID-19, we are capitalising on the opportunities it presents. In particular, we can feature international speakers and reach more people than logistics would traditionally allow.
"The time was also pertinent to address issues affecting ladies working in the transport industry. Currently, there is no bigger issue than coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown. The event was a platform to address some of the most pressing issues head-on and provide real answers to actual struggles."
The panel discussion, which is a favourite from past years, remained a great source of information as panellists discussed 'Driving out COVID-19.' “Ladies across a wide range of roles and businesses came together to discuss how the pandemic affected their companies and the steps they are taking to recover.
“Leanne van Rooy, trauma programme manager from Netcare Milpark, painted a perspective of a future vaccine. Claudia Simoes, the head of sales operations at Diageo, discussed the impact on the alcoholic beverages industry and where to from here. Nomsa Mokwena, the MD at Faithrich Trading, and Carla Rodrigues Schoeman, the MD of Master Movers, spoke to business owners about their experience during lockdown and as the economy starts recovering.
“Lorato Tshekedi, the safety, health and environmental manager for DHL sub-Saharan Africa, shared how she was personally affected by COVID-19 while emphasising the growing importance of training moving forward. Helena Nel, an industrial psychologist at Imaginate People Advisory, looked at the psychological impact COVID-19 left behind and how to recover. The discussion proved insightful and useful for many businesses as we start to pick up the pieces after the pandemic."
The event also brought greater awareness to another issue increasing in severity during lockdown. "Recent international research suggests the extra time spent on phones during lockdown resulted in greater addiction to technology. This has been carried into cars with drivers. Consequently, there is a considerable rise in the number of distracted driving incidents because of phone use.
"Doctor Lisa Dorn is a professor of driver behaviour at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. She provided an insightful and informative perspective on how driver behaviour was affected during lockdown and some issues one should consider going forward."
The possibility of using technology to change cellphone use, while driving, within organisations was also discussed. “Our guest speaker from the US, Cory Woinarowicz from 'NOCELL' spoke about the use of cell phones while driving, particularly after the pandemic, and the solutions that companies should consider to stop this behaviour.
“MasterDrive has proudly become the distributor of the software in South Africa and looks forward to making a bold leap into changing the future of distracted driving. The danger of this behaviour was illustrated in a video specially filmed by MasterDrive to demonstrate how dangerous taking your eyes off the road, even for a few seconds, can be."
A thank you goes out to every person and company that helped make this event possible. "Even though we're in a vastly different place this year to what we were only a year ago, we were still able to evolve to the new circumstances and ensure that the show goes on. Thank you to all the speakers and the sponsors of prizes for their role in making this event a success. We look forward to next year," says Herbert.
