Maruti calls for road safety board: Opens driving school in Bangalore; 50 more planned : Business Standard Online

MARUTI Udyog Ltd. (MUL) has urged the Union Government to set us a National Road Safety Board, which can act as an integrating agency to tackle the issues of road planning, vehicle design and health care support to reduce road fatalities, said Mr. Jagdish Khattar, Managing Director of MUL.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Khattar said, India should emulate European countries, which had brought road fatalities through a co-ordinated approach to road safety. India's road safety record is dismal, with about 1 lakh people dying every year and one million injured. Besides, the cost of road accidents is also enormous, said Mr. Khattar. Mr. Khattar, while opening the Maruti Driving School (MDS) here, said road safety and traffic management are the focus areas in Maruti's agenda for corporate social responsibility. MUL has decided to set up 50 MDS by the year end, of which one each in Kollam (Kerala) and Chandigarh will be opened by March end.

MDS is equipped with a high-tech simulator (imported from France) to give a hand on feel to learners before taking the vehicle to the road. This would eliminate road-fright for learners. The simulator provides virtual driving environments, which includes various road and weather conditions (fog, dim light, uphill and downhill terrain. The MDS will have trained instructors from the Institute of Driving Training and Research Delhi (managed by MUL) as well as lady instructors.