Coimbatore : Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Ltd Managing Director Masakazu Yoshiura today said that the company’s focus and priority was not only to manufacture safe cars, but to strive towards enriching quality of life in India and provide a safe ecosystem for all.

Speaking at the inauguration of a Traffic Park and Safety Model School, the first in Tamil Nadu in collaboration with the city-based Roots Group of Companies, at Sachidananda Jothi Niketan Internaional Schools in Mettupalayam, Yoshimura said that through this school initiative, our goal was to sensitise and mentor school children on various road safety problems and responsible safety habits.

Stating that at Toyota, we firmly believe in the philosophy of ‘Safety First’. he said “the recent amendments made to the Motor Vehicles Bill by the Indian Government will provide an impetus to our mission, forcing road travelers to follow traffic rules leading to safer road environment in the country.”

This is the first ‘Safety Model School’ initiated by Toyota Kirloskar and Roots Group of Companies in the state of Tamil Nadu, with an intent to outspread road safety message to a larger audience and proliferate its impact, to the schools in the region, by engaging students from Class 5 to Class 9.

In his address, Chairman and Managing Director, Roots Group of Companies said that almost 1.5 lakh people lost their lives in road accidents in 2017, which means every hour 17 people died on the road due to an accident.

This is an alarming situation and all the OEMs need to work together to put a brake on the critical issue of road accidents, he said and expressed confidence that Safety Model School will be able to educate the young school children on the importance of road safety habits, encouraging them to be road safety ambassadors.”

Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration minister, S P Velumani inaugurated the school.