Bangalore, January, 2020: In-line with its commitment towards the cause of Road Safety, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) commenced its nationwide program to promote road safety awareness, as part of the 31^st Road Safety Week being observed between January 11 & 17, 2020.As per the recent report on Road Accidents in India, road traffic continues to be a major area of concern, becoming a leading cause of death and injury across the globe killing more than 1.35 million globally with 11% of the causalities being accounted by India alone. The report further states that India witnessed close to 151,417 accident related deaths in 2018, despite the various initiatives taken by the Government in this regard. Source: https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/Road_Accidednt.pdf

This year, TKM has joined hands with the Karnataka State Traffic Police to sensitize people about road safety and bring about a behavioural change towards it.Towards this end, TKM has handed over 525 TKM procured helmets to the State Traffic Police Department spreading awareness on the importance of traffic rules and responsible road safety habits.Marking the 31^st Road Safety Week, TKM also initiated various activities within the organization and its stakeholders including logistic partners, suppliers and dealers. Aligning its efforts with this year’s theme – ‘Bringing Change Through Youth’, TKM is reaching out to school children and college students,imparting knowledge on good road sense with an aim to develop them as the Road Safety Ambassadors of tomorrow.

Awareness activities at Dealerships 

With an aim to enhance a safety culture amongst all its dealer staff, TKM is conducting road rallies also involving women, spreading safety awareness for dealer staff and customers through promotional materials, sharing driving tips, organizing eye check-ups for drivers and involving dealer staff family members through drawing and quiz competitions at its dealerships. Furthermore, acknowledging their efforts, TKM will felicitate the dealer partners post evaluating the best theme campaign activities.

Awareness activities at the TKM Plant

 At its Bidadi plant, TKM is conducting talks and awareness programs on road safety, conducting eye check-ups for drivers, school children education, sharing insights and tips to be more aware and alert at all times. The activity at the plant mainly focuses on three key contributors for fatal accidents, namely: Over-speeding, distraction while driving, and overtaking.

 Sharing his thoughts on the various Road Safety initiatives taken by TKM, Mr. Naveen Soni,Senior Vice President, Sales & Service said, “Toyota remains committed as a safety leader and will continue its safety journey to become the most admired company by offerings best-in-class safety technology through its products and  promoting right safety culture in the society through varied road safety campaigns in the nation. We acknowledge the support of Bangalore Traffic Police and our stakeholders for their dedicated efforts towards spreading awareness on various road safety problems and responsible safety habits.”

He further adds, “We are continuously striving to be a safety role model in the industry, taking safety to the next level by thoroughly eliminating accidents both inside and outside the workplace. We are happy to witness the enthusiasm and the overwhelming participation from our partners and stakeholders to drive this message. Road safety today, has become a critical issue that requires collective efforts in order to build a safer environment for tomorrow. We need to create and reinforce awareness about how each one of us can contribute to it. Through these activities, we hope to bring in the required positive changes and inculcate best road practices among the society.”

TKM has been championing the cause of road safety and driving behavioral change since 2007 with the launch of various road safety awareness programs. Recently, it organized the second edition of the Toyota Hackathon – Code for Safer India in Bangalore, engaging with school students from grade 9^th to 12^th to develop effective digital road safety solutions.

As part of its CSR interventions, TKM also encourages its employees to voluntarily contribute to the cause of Road Safety by building basic road safety requirements and installing: Sign Boards, Solar Blinkers, Cat Eye Reflectors, Convex Mirrors at turns etc. at prime locations to avoid road-related risks as a preventive measure and enable good road infrastructure.