Vijayawada, July 6^th 2017 – Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today announced the launch of the company’s first “Toyota Driving School” in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in pursuance of its safety mission of ‘Safest Car with Safest Driver’. Managed by one of Toyota’s dealerships – Radha Madhav Toyota, this is the company’s first Driving School in Vijayawada and Seventh in India.

The Toyota Driving School launch was graced by the chief guests Hon’ble Sri. Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, Minister for Transport, BC Welfare and Empowerment, Handlooms and Textiles – Government of Andhra Pradesh and Shri. P Srinivas, Addl. Transport Commissioner, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Also present at the occasion were Mr. M. Subrahmanyam, Dealer Principal – Radha Madhav Toyota, Mr. M.V. Srinivas, Director & Chief Executive Officer – Radha Madhav Toyota along with Mr. N. Raja, Senior Vice President & Director (Sales & Marketing) – Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

To improve safety culture in the country, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has launched six other driving schools across India in Kochi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Faridabad, in line with company’s safety mission.

Being a part of company’s vision of "Safest Car with Safest Driver”, ‘Toyota Driving School’, one of its kind in the country, will ensure extreme importance on making every student a responsible and safe driver. The curriculum will be a comprehensive driver training program that will boast of high quality and practical and futuristic training models like the driver simulator mechanism which is expected to deliver the “Etios Experience”. To make this experience as realistic as possible, Toyota has incorporated features like Instrument Panel (IP), Steering, and Seats of an actual Etios car.

The curriculum will comprehensively cover the following topics:

1. Traffic management, rules and discipline
2. Safe and right driving concepts
3. Manners and responsibilities of a driver
4. Simulation of driving on real vehicle before getting onto road
5. All aspects of practical driving on road
6. Driving on various road and climate conditions
7. Know your car – Basic maintenance and repairs
8. Emergency handling
9. Systematic evaluation and feedback

Commenting on this new Toyota Driving School launch, Mr. M. Subrahmanyam, Dealer Principal – Radha Madhav Toyota said “It is our honor to partner with Toyota and play an active role in their endeavor to inculcate road safety measures and promote good driving habits amongst citizens. According to recent studies conducted by the city traffic police department in Vijayawada the number of road accidents in the city has increased noticeably in the last two years. This steady rise in the number of road mishaps in the city is an issue that needs to be addressed promptly. With this new initiative of Toyota Driving School, we are confident that we will be able to make safe and sensible driving an everyday habit for drivers in the city.”

Speaking at the occasion Mr. N Raja, Senior Vice President & Director (Sales and Marketing) - Toyota Kirloskar Motor said “We are happy to launch our first driving school in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in line with our “Safety first” philosophy. With accident rates increasing at an alarming rate, road safety is a growing concern in our country. What we need is a multi-sided approach to tackle this issue at many levels. Through extensive training offered by professional trainers and an all-encompassing curriculum comprising of theoretical and practical training, we believe, we impart quality driver training through our driving schools.

Toyota being the frontrunner in road safety, our mission ‘Safest Car with Safest Driver’ ensures making cars with world class safety features being driven by responsible drivers. We have constantly been engaged in various road safety initiatives since 2005, and the launch of this driving school is yet another step towards ensuring the safest roads in our country” he added.

The simulator, a key part of the teaching program, is expected to provide hands on experience. Learners can practice all car controls like steering, accelerator, brake and gear shift before they take the actual vehicle on the road. The simulators can also create various road and weather conditions like fog, dim light, uphill and downhill terrain. While there will be a standard learning package for beginners, ‘Toyota Driving School’ will also offer the flexibility of additional learning modules so that learners can design a curriculum of their choice.

Besides, the simulator also has several credits, it is the first car simulator in India with Full High Definition Computer graphics in an immersive Curved Projection environment, and it is the first simulator in India with real complete car cabin along with actual car gear. In addition, it also offers extensive local language support for effective training and extensive sessions for both novice and advance drivers.

With the launch of Toyota Driving School across India, the company aims to bring down the rising number of road accidents caused majorly due to human error. The training module will integrate technical expertise along with enhancing behavioral skills to create awareness about safety nationwide. Toyota Driving School has till date enrolled 2000 plus students & looks forward to double it in 2017. By 2020 the company plans to cross 50 such schools across India, voicing their traffic safety commitment, louder. Toyota will be launching another four driving schools across India by 2017 and train around 5000 students to be a highly skilled driver and safety ambassador.

In pursuance of its deep rooted safety mission, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has been carrying out Road Safety initiatives since 2005 through various pan India campaigns. Apart from the commitment to building the safest cars, the company has an all- encompassing Safety Program to address road safety challenges in India. As a safety leader, Toyota initiated the Toyota Safety Education Program (TSEP) in 2007 which aims at educating school children and teachers through phase wise approach on important aspects of road safety and eventually passing on the learning to the general public. Toyota has educated more than 6,80,000 school children on road safety across India until now as part of “Toyota Safety Education Programme”.

To ensure safest drivers on Indian roads, TKM has been conducting similar Driver Training Programs & Health Check Up camp for Airport taxi drivers in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi International Airport since 2014 as part of the CSR Initiatives on road safety awareness with over 6000 drivers participating in the campaign till date. Through this initiative Toyota aims at creating a strong road safety sense amongst the drivers, and encourage them to adopt safer driving practices.

Safest Cars: Etios was first in its segment to standardize Air bags in driver and passenger side. The company went to set a safety benchmark with “The New Platinum Etios’, being the first in the industry to standardize Anti-Lock Braking System with Electronic Brake-force Distribution across all Toyota models & in all grades. Additionally, there are also new dual ISOFIX child seat locks for all models & all grades, added to ensure safety of children. Testament to its position as one of the segment leaders in terms of passenger safety, the Etios was presented with the coveted 4 Stars in Global NCAP Crash Test adult occupant safety for the year 2016.