Gathering all its forces together, Mercedes-Benz and its group companies including Mercedes-Benz India (MBIL), Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI)and Daimler Financial Services India (DFS) joined hands for their Corporate Social Responsibility initiative called 'Safe Roads', in New Delhi.
Although, cars produced by automobile big-wigs like Mercedes-Benz are designed to be extremely safe, but often it's a challenge to effectively employ these sophisticated safety features, simply because many road users do not follow traffic rules properly. And, in some cases car users do not know how to use the safety system their cars come equipped with.
As a result, close to 1.40 lakh people die every year in India of road accidents, and the main reason for these fatalities is ignorance of safety norms. The idea behind Mercedes-Benz 'Safe Roads' is to reduce this ghastly fatality rate on Indian roads, by increasing awareness on road safety. Mercedes-Benz is confident that over 70 per cent of the fatalities can be reduced in the next ten years through education and enforcement of safety rules and by creating awareness in India.
According to the Ministry of Road Transport andamp; Highways (MORTH), during the period 2003-2013, India's reported road traffic fatalities grew by 60 per cent, with around 1,37,572 fatalities in 2013. When compared with other emerging market country, China saw a 43 per cent fatality reduction during 2004-2012.
The first leg of the Mercedes-Benz 'Safe Roads' was flagged off by Jochen Feese, Head of Accident Research, Sensor Functions and Pedestrian Protection, Mercedes-Benz Cars, in the presence of Eberhard Kern, Managing Director andamp; CEO, MBIL, Erich Nesselhauf, MD andamp; CEO, DICV and Manu Saale, MD andamp; CEO, MBRDI. The event took place at Pragati Maidan in the capital and will continue its tour across the country to Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.
'Safe Roads' is a road show that promotes road safety through physical demonstration, visual aids and research reports. The physical demonstration will be undertaken with the use of exhibits that have been brought from Germany providing a real life experience of safety measures that can potentially save lives during road accidents.
This includes Belt-Slide exhibit which aims is to increase the percentage of seat belts usage for front row passengers including driver. Airbags will also be on display along with passenger car skeleton showcasing 'Body in White' (BiW) which highlights some of the core elements of a car structure which have high tensile strength that can absorb most of the energy during a crash and minimise passenger car intrusions.
Other interesting exhibits include alcohol goggles, wearing which simulates the common 'walk-the-line' activity which causes loss of balance and delayed reaction times. Visitors will feel their susceptibility to impairments and realise the potential severe consequences due to alcohol consumption.
The highlight of the show is said to be the original ESF (Experimental Safety) vehicle to showcase a glimpse of future of safety, like PRE-SAFE, Braking Bag, Interactive Vehicle Communication among others, some of which are already featured on high-end vehicles sold today.
Eberhard Kern, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented on the initiative: "We are confident that initiatives like 'Safe Roads' will enhance the understanding of a vehicle safety systems and spread the awareness on creating safer roads for vehicle users in India. Considering the alarming rate of accidents on Indian roads, we strongly need to address not only various behavioural aspects of the vehicle users and the related infrastructure measures, but also consider making our vehicles safer and smarter by introducing advanced safety features and driver assistance systems. We strongly believe 'Safe Roads' initiative will be able to underline all these aspects comprehensively and make Indian roads safer."
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