Instilling positive awareness on road safety among the riders and drivers of Visakhapatnam, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI) and Andhra Pradesh Transport Department celebrated the 1st anniversary of its Safety Driving Education Centre (SDEC) at Regional Transport Office, Vuda Colony, Marripalem, Visakhapatnam.
The anniversary was celebrated in the august presence of G C Rajaratnam (Deputy Transport Commissioner, Visakhapatnam), I Siva Prasad Rao (Regional Transport Officer, Visakhapatnam) and K V Prasad Rao (Incharge, Regional Transport Office, Visakhapatnam).
In September 2020, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI) in association with Andhra Pradesh Transport Department digitally inaugurated their second Safety Driving Education Centre (SDEC) of Andhra Pradesh in Visakhapatnam to initiate a unique ‘Road Safety Training’ exclusively for all two-wheeler & four-wheeler learner license applicants.
Driving road safety awareness amongst the new and experienced riders and drivers of the city, HMSI announced that through its daily training, it has educated 28,713 learner license applicants of Visakhapatnam since its inception.
Speaking on the occasion of the 1st anniversary of Safety Driving Education Center, Sh. G C Rajaratnam, Deputy Transport Commissioner, Visakhapatnam said, “Andhra Pradesh Transport Department in collaboration with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. inaugurated the SDEC at District Transport Commission, Visakhapatnam intending to train applicants coming for learner license. Despite the center being closed for few months due to COVID-19 restrictions, the safety instructors have trained 28,713 learner license applicants at center while strictly adhering to the COVID-19 safety guidelines. Ever since the start of road safety training, the percentage of students passing the test has also increased. I appreciate the efforts of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. and its road safety training instructors for taking up this initiative to train the LLR applicants of Visakhapatnam.”
Sharing his thoughts on this occasion, Prabhu Nagaraj, Senior Vice President – Brand & Communication, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Road safety has been a major cause of concern in India. In 2019 alone, the state reported close to 22K road accidents*. Almost 5% of the total accidents in India. Lack of knowledge of road safety is one of the main causes of accidents. To enhance their basic Road Safety awareness, HMSI with Andhra Pradesh Transport Department started a pre-Learner License Registration training for all learner license applicants of Visakhapatnam and are happy to have completed a year of this collaboration successfully. Moving forward, we will continue to instill more discipline among the learner license applicants and make them responsible road users in the future.”
HMSI’s 2-hours free-of-cost mandatory training educates learner license applicants through theory sessions on road rules & regulations, road signs & markings, driver’s duties on the road, riding gear & posture explanation and safe riding etiquette. This is followed by practical training on Honda’s virtual road safety simulator to increase an applicant’s risk prediction ability before they start riding on roads.
HMSI’s entire road safety awareness program is developed keeping contact-less learning a priority. Honda safety instructors adhere to strict Government guidelines and ensure the safety of participants – right from sanitization, temperature check at the entry point to maintaining a minimum 6 feet distance between applicants inside the classroom, to certificate handover and exit.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd’s CSR commitment towards Road Safety
For Honda globally, road safety comes first. Fulfilling its corporate social responsibility (CSR), HMSI has been promoting road safety in India since its start in 2001. Today HMSI’s road safety awareness initiative has already spread to over 41 lac Indians. Its team of skilled safety instructors conducts daily programs at its 10 adopted traffic parks across India and 7 Safety Driving Education Centres (SDEC).
Not only this, all 1000+ dealerships of HMSI across India spread road safety awareness. HMSI’s proprietary virtual riding simulator increases the risk-prediction ability of riders; while new customers to are given pre-delivery safety advice (PDSA) before they start riding at every dealership across India.
Additionally, ensuring that learning doesn’t stop in the New Normal, HMSI started the digital road safety education initiative – Honda Road Safety E-Gurukul. Since its start in May’20, this initiative has sensitized 6 lac Indians on the importance of being aware & responsible road users.
