Safe Roads - A CSR initiative by Mercedes

Mercedes-Benz India has inaugurated its latest Corporate Social Responsibility activity - 'Safe Roads' in Delhi. This is a collaborative initiative of the Mercedes-Benz group companies and JP Research, Apollo Hospitals and IIT Delhi.

'Safe Roads' is an exhibition that promotes road safety through physical demonstrations, visual aids and research reports. Exhibits have been imported from Germany for live demonstrations, depicting real life scenarios and how safety measures come into play.

The Belt-Slide exhibit where visitors experience the impact of seat belts in a low speed simulated crash situation.

A 'Body in White'(BiW) passenger car exhibit will educate visitors about the core elements of a car structure that are expected to absorb a great percentage of the energy during a crash and minimize passenger car intrusions.

Alcohol goggles - A special type of glasses that simulate common 'walk-the-line' activity which causes a loss of balance and delayed reaction times. Wearing these, visitors will realize the potential consequences of alcohol consumption.

The entire range of airbags will also be on display i.e. driver and passenger, curtain, knee, etc.

Mercedes will showcase the original ESF 2009 (Experimental Safety) vehicle too, which features technological innovations in the field of safety like PRE-SAFE, Braking Bag, Interactive Vehicle Communication etc. some of which have already made their way to production vehicles.

The event took place at Pragati Maidan, Delhi and will be travelling to Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

Some key highlights from the research data:

• Approximately 1,40,000 people die of road accidents each year in India.

• According to World Health Organization (WHO) in 2010 the number of road traffic fatalities were the highest in India, comprising of 15% of global road traffic fatalities.
• Keeping the base year as 2011, the fatality trend is likely to reach 2,50,000 by 2025. However, with the requisite education, awareness and enforcement of safety rules, this number could be reduced to 50,000.
• A sample survey revealed that in 50% of accidents were no avoidance manoeuvres, 30% drivers performed a brake or swerve manoeuvre or a combination of both. The study goes on to reveal that only 16% of car drivers and front passengers use seat belts.