Carlos Sainz, in Fratertalk: “When it comes to driving, we are all equal”
Carlos Sainz, Princess of Asturias Sports Award, two-time world rally champion, two-time Spanish Rally champion and three-time Dakar champion, was the guest last Friday in the Fratertalk space of Fraternidad-Muprespa, within the VI Workplace Road Safety Week organized by the Mutual.
Sainz shared his extensive experience in the world of motorsport in an interview focused on road safety, his experiences behind the wheel both professionally and in sports as well as individually, or in the Champions skills for safety program, the road safety course that he promotes and that places emphasis on the importance of the driver's attitude when avoiding accidents.
His beginnings as a driver
The driver began by reviewing his life as a driver since he obtained his driving license when he had just turned 18, an essential requirement to immediately obtain a competition license and sign up for a race.
“There was a hoax that I had suspended my driving license. That's not the case, I passed the first time. I wanted to drive so much that I studied it and prepared it well”
As a private driver, after acknowledging that he initially suffered some minor accidents, he described why road safety seems so important to him. "It is a field that has evolved tremendously. At first the seat belt was practically an ornament. Now it is mandatory and absolutely necessary, it can save your life."
As a fundamental requirement for driving, he referred to concentration since “a certain level of attention is always required due to being surrounded by more people and having to make quick decisions.”
For Carlos Sainz, the commitment to road safety goes beyond the road, acquiring an important social dimension. “Being a well-known person in the world of sports and also in the world of motorsport, I believe that it is a moral obligation on my part to try to collaborate, help society to have better safety and try to convince people to drive in a more responsible manner.”
Sainz, reiterated the importance of being aware of the commitment involved in driving and sharing the road with pedestrians and other drivers.
“When you drive you acquire responsibilities, not only with yourself, but also with society”
In relation to this firm commitment, Carlos Sainz promotes Champions Skills for Safety, a road safety course aimed at improving driving. "We want the methods we have acquired in competition to change beliefs that are not correct. We follow all technologies to be at the forefront of road safety, especially for companies, since at work we are exposed to possible accidents. We do not want to make racing drivers, we want to make better drivers."
Champions Skills for Safety is an initiative of Infova, whose CEO and co-founder, Óscar Fuertes, also participated in the interview and highlighted the importance of demonstrating with data what this improvement in driving translates into.
Carlos Sainz has also reviewed aspects that represent a new reality when driving and that may be related to accident rates, such as the increase in drivers linked to e-commerce, driving in autonomous vehicles, sustainable mobility or technological advances for a better driving experience.
“No driver should be demonized, but rather identify them and monitor their activity to integrate them.We also have to update the law”
About the first, he highlighted that they are “new important actors that must be identified and monitored to integrate them, because no one must be demonized but the law must be varied and updated.”
Given that he lives outside of Madrid, he acknowledged that to go to the city he usually drives an electric vehicle both “because of the advantages it has and because of the commitment to sustainability.”
He also stressed the importance of having knowledge of car mechanics and maintenance, from monitoring the condition of the tires to knowing what they are for and how the devices that vehicles have for greater safety work.
“Brands have made a great effort to give us safer vehicles. Let's take advantage of it. Let's not look the other way saying 'how lazy, how does this turn off, I don't want it to warn me if I'm changing lanes without realizing it'. On the contrary, we must take advantage of the effort that the brands have made.”
