Why give drivers a notice in their own language?
In many Gulf fleets the drivers read Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam or Tagalog better than Arabic or English. A notice about cameras or tracking that a driver cannot read does not tell him anything, and a safety rule he cannot read is a rule he cannot follow. Saudi Arabia's Transport General Authority has published driver guidance in Arabic, English and Urdu (2022).
What does each page say?
Every language page has the same four blocks, so a supervisor can check any page against the English one.
- This vehicle is tracked. It says that position, speed and trips are recorded and why.
- This vehicle has a camera. It says that video may be recorded and tells the driver to ask who can see it and for how long.
- What an alert means. Speed, seat belt and attention alerts, and what to do. You fill in the sound or message.
- Questions. A line for the supervisor name and contact.
How do you review the draft languages?
The five translated pages were prepared from the English text and have not been reviewed by native speakers. Do not print them as they are.
- Find a native speaker. Someone who knows driving and workplace words, not only the language.
- Read it aloud to a driver. Ask what he understood. Change any line he reads differently.
- Record it. Write the reviewer, the date and the changes in the review log.
A wrong word in a safety notice can do more harm than no notice. Keep the Draft mark on a page until it is approved in the review log.
Where do you place the pages?
- Hand the right language page to each driver at induction and read it with him.
- Keep a copy in the vehicle file and in the driver's record.
- Fit the stickers where the driver sees them, never over the view of the road.
- Re-issue the pages when you change the devices or the alert settings.
Limits of this file
It gives wording for notices. It is not legal advice and does not say that any law is met. It does not state what any device records, how long recordings are kept or what any alert sounds like: those depend on your devices and settings, and you write them in. It does not claim approval by any authority.