Shell has announced the results of it’s road safety competition for tertiary education students called the #ShellSelamatSampai Varsity Challenge, and Team Salvus from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) was the grand winner for 2021.
With the theme ‘Innovating Towards Safer Roads for Everyone’, this competition which is open to all university and college students in Malaysia, empowers youth to incorporate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in proposing innovative solutions to mitigate road safety issues.
“Road safety is a concern in Malaysia and many other countries in the world. The World Health Organization records approximately 1.3 million fatalities each year due to road traffic crashes.
The wining team comprising Nurul Faqihah Hambali, Kiang Fei Yi, Siti Aishah Husna, Mas Athirah Mohd Hisban and Nurul Syamilah Azmancame up with a project called ‘Anti-Drunk and Sleep Detector (ADS)’.
This project focuses on creating a device that identifies drunk drivers or drivers who are prone to dozing off while driving. This device will detect the alcohol and oxygen levels of a driver to indicate if the driver is in the right condition to drive.
Team Salvus was one of the five finalist teams which competed against students from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
“Our dream is to see our invention being used by Malaysians towards creating a safer journey for everyone on the road. Like our name “Salvus” which means safe, we hope that with the technology available, we can all come together to achieve zero road accidents.”
“We would also like to thank our supervisor, Prof Madya. Dr. Samsul Bahari bin Mohd Noor; our mentor from Shell, Ms Rajeswary Ganajoo; our beloved Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and last but not least, our parents, friends and everyone who supported us with encouragement throughout this competition,” shared Team Salvus, the grand champion of #ShellSelamatSampai Varsity Challenge 2021.
The 2021 grand finale was judged by a panel of distinguished judges comprising Dato’ Dr Khairil Anwar bin Abu Kassim, Director-General of Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS); Puan Nur Hayuna binti Abdul Karim, Senior Principal Assistant Director of the Higher Education Ministry; Ir. Mohd Fairuz Izani, Principal Assistant Director of Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ), and En Shairan Huzani Husain, Managing Director of Shell Malaysia Trading & Shell Timur
Shell’s road safety journey in Malaysia began over six decades ago in 1957. Over time, the company’s road safety programme evolved to working very closely with government stakeholders to innovate and find impactful ways to help build a road safe culture among the community.
Under the road safety programme called #ShellSelamatSampai, the Varsity Challenge was introduced in 2017. It is aimed to empower tertiary education students to help find solutions in mitigating road safety issues.
Over the years, #ShellSelamatSampai Varsity Challenge has contributed in nurturing brilliant young minds across Malaysia to propose out of the box ideas to help improve the road safety conditions. This Varsity Challenge is also globally recognised and has earned the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in 2020.
