Ford promotes safe driving in India

New Delhi:  Every six minutes, more than 25 people die or are injured as a result of a motor vehicle accident in India, on an average.

Ford India celebrated the successful completion of the second year of the Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) programme/ Photo credit: Ford/ Files

Consider these staggering facts from the World Health Organisation:

• India topped China as having the most per capita fatalities as a result of motor vehicle accidents

• In India, road fatalities have increased by 40% in five years

• 13 people die every hour on Indian roads and the International Road Federation estimated a total of 1,19,860 road fatalities in 2009

• Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for 10-24 year olds

• Most young people killed or injured in road crashes in low- and middle-income countries are pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists or users of public transport

• Correctly used seat-belts reduce the risk of death in the event of a crash by up to 61%

Emphasising that its business goes beyond making and selling cars with the DSFL message to promote Safe, Economic and Eco-friendly driving, Ford India today reiterated a strong commitment to India it completed another successful year for the company's highly popular Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) program.

Ford's DSFL program has trained over 2,500 drivers in 2011, almost double the number of participants since launch in 2009. This brings the total number of DSFL- trained drivers in India to over 4,300.

The company's announcement comes on the back of previewing a trail-blazing product in its segment-- the All-New EcoSport at the Delhi Auto Show 2011 and announcing additional US$ 142 million investment in India.

"It is indeed great to see the expansion of a program all of us at Ford believe in," said Nigel Wark, executive director of Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford India. "DSFL is our wholehearted attempt to engage,  involve and contribute to spread awareness about the on ground realities of road safety and help communities drive safely. We are all delighted to see such a great response to the program and hope to take it further in the coming year."

A reflection of Ford India's strong commitment to a better society, DSFL's highly interactive sessions were extended in 2011 to include important stakeholder groups such as dealers, customers, fleet partners, influencers, and supplier partners such as Visteon.

The year's thrust was on the program's expansion -- spreading the DSFL offering to customers beyond Chennai. As a first step to achieve this goal, Ford India turned to its wide network of dealerships in 5 major cities as its key facilitators and partners. These markets -- Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh -- saw the roll out of customer sessions early in 2011, and becoming highly successful.

"Involving our dealers was an important step for us since our dealers are our key touch points with customers across key markets," says Wark.

"With the customer sessions in partnership with our dealers and in dealer showrooms, we have been able to foster stronger relations with our customers, build a stronger understanding of cars among them and, more importantly, promote active participation and enthusiasm among our dealers as well."

While major fleet operators such as Orix, Arval, Venus Cabs involved their entire fleet of drivers for training in major cities such as Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore, Ford India also was proud to train group of drivers of the Indian Army in 2011. These sessions have helped Ford India ensure the dissemination of the responsible driving message to important influencer groups.

Bloggers and twitterati active on Social Media forums and traditional media personnel formed another core focus group. Sessions with the former were especially successful in 2011, with leading forums such as Team BHP at the forefront of partnering with Ford India to organize DSFL sessions for their members. The feedback has been extremely positive, with raving comments and queries posted online at the forums and in Ford India Social Media platforms.

"Ford's DSFL a good session not just for people who have started driving recently but also for people who are experienced drivers on the road.

This session was informative as well as engaging and I hope Ford continues to enlighten us on basic road safety and how it helps to be a more aware driver on the Indian roads." said Siddharth Mishra, avid tourer and architect, who attended the session for Team BHP. 

With the success of the program and increasing interest from participants, the program looks set to grow in the years to come, with more and more drivers joining for the sessions across the country.