Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (TKM), a joint venture between Japanese passenger car maker Toyota Motor Corporation and India's Kirloskar Group, is aiming at covering 1,00,000 school children across all major metros this year through its traffic safety initiative, Toyota Safety Education Programme (TSEP).
Started as a pilot project in 2007 in Bangalore, followed by its launch in 2008 across all the Indian metros, the initiative has so far educated more than 400,000 students.
The programme is initiated to create awareness about traffic safety among school children, train school teachers through a one-day training programme and participate in government initiatives to create awareness about traffic safety.
Announcing the launch of TSEP at Oakridge International School in Hyderabad on Wednesday, TKM managing director Hiroshi Nakagawa said, “It is alarming to note that the number of fatal accidents happening in India every year is more than 130,000, which is the highest in the world. Andhra Pradesh alone has about 9 per cent of the total road accidents and 11.8 per cent fatality. Hence, we have decided to launch TSEP in Hyderabad.”
Nakagawa said the company was planning to conduct the programme in 150 schools this year. To sustain this initiative, TKM has also trained 700 school teachers and will continue to do so, he added.
