Toyota launches latest safety campaign on belting up
“Be Safety Leaders” to encourage drivers, passengers to minimize traffic accidents
World’s leading automotive manufacturer, Toyota launched its latest regional safety campaign to promote wearing seatbelts, by their automobile users to head towards a future of accident-free roads across the globe.
The automobile giant’s regional safety campaign for the third consecutive year was launched in Yokohama, Japan recently in the presence of a large participation of media personalities representing the Asia Pacific Region.
With a campaign tagline of “Be Safety Leaders”, the automaker encourages both drivers and passengers to assume proactive leadership in traffic safety by beginning with the simple act of belting up.
The regional safety campaign began in 2014 amidst high traffic accident fatality rates, low law enforcement and general low safety awareness that were becoming prominent issues in a South-east Asian region that was undergoing rapid motorization. In the first year, Toyota focused on call-to-action for greater seatbelt usage.
In 2015, the campaign continued to advocate seatbelt usage and additionally, aimed to empower the public with knowledge to be safety leaders. Given that longterm cultivation and continued reinforcement are needed for behavioral changes, Toyota hopes another year of this call-to-action for greater seatbelt usage will further increase awareness of its importance. This year, it is hoped that the public will be leadersin-action, assuming proactive leadership in traffic safety and spreading the word about seatbelt importance in the community.
In the latest campaign additional emphasis is placed on countering the public’s prevailing mindset on the usage of seatbelt. While wearing a seatbelt should come almost as a reflex before each journey, according to a survey conducted in 2014, many people are still not belting up.
The top five excuses of not wearing a seatbelt are existing presence of airbags in vehicles; confidence in one’s own driving skills; short journey; discomfort and causing clothes to be wrinkled. Through this educational campaign, Toyota hopes to reinforce that seatbelts complement airbags and increase their effectiveness by 15 times. Furthermore, seatbelts reduce the risk of fatal injury by up to 50 percent for front seat passengers and 75 percent for rear seat passengers.
President Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Pvt. Ltd., Hiroyuki Fukui at the campaign launch event said “traffic safety is Toyota’s top priority. We believe in contributing
to achieving a society with zero traffic accident fatalities. Through our regional safety awareness campaign, we urge drivers and passengers to belt up to keep themselves and their families safe”.
In addition to last year’s interactive online campaign activities such as Toyota Seat Selfie App and “Go Go Buckle Up” Game, a new campaign video is introduced this year. The video features an emotional narrative of a child urging the parent to belt up for safety. Toyota hopes that the message “Belt on for Every Journey” will raise greater awareness that there should be no excuses to ignore one’s safety.
These activities will be extended to all ASEAN countries, including India, Pakistan and four new Southwest Asian countries of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
THE TOP FIVE EXCUSES OF NOT WEARING A SEATBELT ARE EXISTING PRESENCE OF AIRBAGS IN VEHICLES; CONFIDENCE IN ONE’S OWN DRIVING SKILLS; SHORT JOURNEY; DISCOMFORT AND CAUSING CLOTHES TO BE WRINKLED.