Toyota Kirloskar Motor conducts Driver Training Program and Health Check-up Camp for drivers in Hyderabad

  • Covered over 3000 Airport taxi drivers till date

  • Awareness level gone up from 35% to 75% post the sessions

  • Around 700 drivers diagnosed with vision problem last year

Hyderabad, 10 Jan 2017: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), in line with its deep rooted safety mission ‘Safest Car, Safest Driver’ today inaugurated a two day “Driver Training Program” and “Health Check-up Camp” for airport taxi drivers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad.  This initiative was undertaken with the objective to engage and educate airport taxi drivers on the traffic safety challenges and the critical importance of making Indian roads more safer with a more responsible and sensible safety behavior.  The event was successfully organized with whole hearted support from Apollo Hospital and Essilor Foundation to offer free health and eye checkup for Airport taxi drivers.

Inaugurated by eminent dignitaries like Mr. K Prasad, ACP-Traffic, the event also had the presence of Mr. Ramkumar, CEO, Radha Krishna Toyota, Mr. Y B Swamy, Senior GM Harsha Toyota and Mr. Rajendre Hegde, GM, CSR, Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor aims to sensitize driver’s common errors while driving and educating them about the importance of road safety and their role to keeping roads safe. The integrated initiative also offered a “Health Check-up Camp” that focused on the wellbeing of taxi drivers who offer their services, day and night. The free check-up camp offered tests like BMI, RBS,ECG , General medicine, BP, eye screening with issuance of free spectacles, blood grouping and physician consultant.

According to recent analysis by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), over 1, 46, 000 people lose lives on due to road mishaps, in India. About 1,374 accidents and 400 deaths take place every day on Indian roads. Drivers’ negligence has been revealed as the single most responsible factor for road accidents, accounted for 77.1 per cent of total road accidents during 2015.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. SGK Kishore, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) said, “We would like to thank Toyota Kirloskar Motor for organizing the road safety awareness programme for the taxi drivers operating out of Hyderabad Airport. We appreciate their efforts in fostering a safe traffic environment by sensitizing taxi drivers about their health and providing training to them on right safety behavior. As an airport operator concerned about the safety of passengers and visitors, we also organize road safety awareness programme for the benefits of taxi drivers on a regular basis. Such programmes definitely instill confidence and good traffic behavior among the drivers and contribute towards a safe traffic environment.”

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Shekar Viswanathan, Vice Chairman & Whole-Time Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “As safety crusaders in the automobile industry, we feel it is our responsibility to ensure the safest cars with the safest drivers.  We sincerely acknowledge the dedicated support from GMR and Apollo Hospital & Essilor foundation, in our successful endeavor in undertaking this initiative. Health and Safety are two major concerns which are often neglected in the automobile industry especially taxi drivers. Taxi drivers are exposed to lot of health problems as a direct result of erratic working hours, stress, poor posture, lack of proper diet, bad weather, pollution and most important being lack of adequate sleep. We have been consistently conducting “Driver Training Programs” and “Health Check-up Camps” to educate taxi drivers on safe driving practices and improve their physical wellbeing.  Taxis are an integral part of public transport system carrying millions of passengers every year. With this initiative we aim at inculcating a strong safety culture in drivers and effectively reduce road accidents on Indian roads’’

TKM has been conducting similar Driver Training Programs in the Bangalore International Airport and Delhi International Airport since 2014 as part of the CSR Initiatives on road safety awareness with over 3000 drivers participating in the campaign. 700 drivers were diagnosed with vision problems during these health checkups and provided free spectacles by TKM.

In pursuance of its deep rooted safety mission, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has been consistently engaged in Road Safety initiatives since 2005 through various pan India campaigns.  The all encompassed safety initiatives under CSR include campaigns targets even the children to start the awareness at an early age. The company has engaged with over 6.5 lakh students across India through its “Toyota Safety Education Programme” which aims at educating school children and teachers on road safety etiquettes

In the area of traffic safety, Toyota is addressing traffic safety through integration of people, cars, and the traffic environment with the aim of completely eliminating traffic casualties.

Launched in line with the company’s vision of “Safest car with safest driver”, TKM has launched Toyota Driving School across India in cities like Kochi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai. With the launch of Toyota Driving School across India, the company aims to bring down the rising number of road accidents caused majorly due to human error.  The training module will integrate technical expertise along with enhancing behavioral skills to create awareness about safety nationwide

Safest Cars: Etios was first in its segment to standardize Air bags in driver and passenger side. The company went set a safety benchmark with “The New Platinum Etios’, being in  the first in the industry to standardize Anti-Lock Braking System with Electronic Brake-force Distribution across all Toyota models & in all grades. Additionally, there are also new dual ISOFIX child seat locks for all models & all grades, added to ensure safety of children. Testament to its position as one of the segment leaders in terms of passenger safety, the Etios was presented with the coveted 4 Stars in Global NCAP Crash Test adult occupant safety for the year 2016.