In a concerted effort towards road safety, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has been actively working towards creating a safer road environment through its Toyota Safety Education Programme (TSEP) – “Road Safety – My Right My Responsibility’. In line with the same, the company announced the culmination of its TSEP annual event held at IISc, Bangalore, witnessing the presence of Chief Guest – Mr. M. N. Anucheth, IPS, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Government of Karnataka, Guests of Honour – Mr. C. Mallikarjun, Additional Commissioner of Transport Government of Karnataka, Dr. G. Gururaj, Former Director of NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences) & Consultant on Road Safety, Jury Members (incl. representatives from IISc, IIM, media, etc.) and TKM’s Senior Executive – Mr. Sudeep S. Dalvi, Chief Communication Officer, and Senior Vice President & Director. With a mission to instil a sense of responsibility amongst future road users, TKM has strategically designed TSEP so that to reach out to the school children and transform them into road safety ambassadors.
TSEP adopts a distinctive ABC Approach – raising Awareness about road safety rules, promoting Behavioural Changes, and engaging in impactful Campaign. The program serves as a robust initiative designed to instil a profound understanding of road safety rules, induce positive and behavioural transformations, and further promote road safety. In addition, TSEP also benefits the schools by facilitating well-designed road safety training for the teachers and their capacity building, thereby enabling them to further train the children on this vital matter, while it also acts as a catalyst for the inclusion of this topic in school curriculum.
Following the roll-out of TSEP, 31 schools participated in the inter school club activity. In which, 25 clubs were finalised from across class 5th to 9th, wherein a team of 5 members each were formed by the participating schools’ basis grade-specific competitive road safety driven activities. Further, class-wise themes were framed covering Poster Making by Class 5 students, Road Safety Enactment by Class 6 students, Mad Ad by Class 7 students, Speech competition by Class 8 students, and Fact Video competition by Class 9 students. During TSEP club activities, participating schools submitted their top entries, and the best team were selected basis three primary assessment criteria: Knowledge Level, Behaviour Change Level, and School Interest. While the shortlisting for Classes 5, 7, and 9 completed during the implementation of TSEP at schools, Classes 6 and 8 were shortlisted on the event day via jury round. The TSEP winners represented by school children received exciting prizes, further recognised and awarded ‘Best Teacher’, ‘Best School’ and ‘Certificate of Association’, during TSEP annual event, presented by the chief guest along with the guests of honour and Toyota leadership, appreciating the enthusiasm, good learning, active participation, and contributions towards promoting road safety.
India with its huge population and diverse road networks, experiences a high road accident annually. The report for calendar year 2022* reveals that the number of road accidents, the number of persons killed, and the number of injuries has increased compared to previous years by 11.9%, 9.4% and 15.3% respectively. Further, young adults in the age group of 18 – 45 years accounted for 66.5 per cent of the fatal road accident victims during 2022.
(*As per the publication ‘Road Accidents in India 2022’, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways – Transport Research Wing, Govt. of India)
In this regard, TKM is actively addressing the issue through TSEP, adopting a visionary “Child to Community” approach that goes beyond manufacturing safe cars, to actively ensure the safety of individuals on roads. With specific focus on school children, TSEP aims to cultivate change agents to influence and facilitate road safety practices within their local communities as well.
Present at the TSEP Annual event, Mr. M. N. Anucheth, IPS, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) – Government of Karnataka, said, “We commend Toyota Kirloskar Motor for their proactive efforts in promoting road safety through the Toyota Safety Education Programme (TSEP), thereby contribute to the goal of zero road fatality. In a country grappling with rising road accidents and fatalities, initiatives like TSEP play a crucial role in fostering a culture of responsible road behaviour from an early age.
The ‘Child to Community’ approach adopted through TSEP is visionary, as it not only enables road safety learnings amongst school children, but also empowers them to become advocates of change within their local communities. TSEP well aligns with the urgent need for comprehensive road safety initiatives in the state.”
Speaking during the TSEP annual event, Mr. Sudeep. S. Dalvi, Chief Communication Officer & Senior Vice President and Director – Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “TSEP aims to empower the next generation to be the architects of change, instil good road behaviour that extends far beyond the steering wheel. Our goal is not only to encourage road safety learnings amongst the children, but to inspire and create a ripple effect that extends from schools to the larger community, thereby adopting a sustainable approach through effective road safety initiatives such as TSEP. As we look back at the success of having reached over 7,90,000 school children through various road safety initiatives, we envision a future where the school children are not just road users, but responsible ones.
Additionally, various road safety initiatives (such as Toyota Hackathon, TSEP, etc) undertaken by the company includes capacity building for teachers, improved school recognition, road safety contributions to national and global priorities (UN SDG3), and development of life skill sets amongst school children.”
TKM has collaborated with more than 44 schools in Bangalore, implementing interactive content, assessments, club activities for experiential learning, intra-school events, and a national championship. The program’s learning outcomes includes comprehending safe road user behaviour, advocating for good samaritan behaviour during accidents and instilling awareness of responsible road behaviour among students. Apart from the primary audiences such as students and teachers, the TSEP continues to enhance its outreach to the secondary audiences i.e., community including school bus drivers, family members, and so forth. Furthermore, TKM’s partnerships with various Schools, Bangalore Traffic Police, Think Tanks, and Influencers have played a crucial role in the success of TSEP. The program covers schools across all eight educational blocks of Bangalore urban districts.
Through TKM’s dedicated road safety initiatives, the company envisions a future where school children become a responsible road user and contribute significantly to the goal of ‘zero road fatality’.
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