Maruti Suzuki has embarked on a new initiative ‘Project Safety Kawach’ (PSK) targeted at its dealer sales executives who will go beyond selling cars to becoming safety ambassadors. Here, sales staff will undergo a short road safety module organised by Maruti Driving School to reboot their knowledge levels.

This initiative comes at a time when road safety is getting more attention from the Centre, thanks to new regulations for passenger vehicles. It is also timely given that India accounts for nearly 1.5 lakh road deaths annually, the highest in the world. “This also means there is an increasing number of drivers who are not well-equipped to navigate the country’s increasingly congested roads,” says a Maruti spokesperson. Lack of quality training and poor awareness are the key contributors to this sorry state of affairs. With PKS, Maruti hopes to usher in a culture of road safety and traffic awareness among its dealer sales executives (DSEs) who accompany customers on test drives. The time has now come for them to go the extra mile on safety measures which include using rear seatbelts.

Traditionally, DSEs have not been part of the Maruti Driving School experience but all this is changing now. Over 10,000 people have been trained so far and they are now better equipped to explains the challenges of the road landscape to customers. “With better training, DSEs can give tips to individuals who come into the showrooms and go on test drives,” says the spokesperson.

Maruti is confident that this will help DSEs market cars better while driving home the message on road safety. The company has 374 driving schools across 185 cities. Last year, nearly two lakh people sign up for training programmes. Going forward, online content will be made available to spread the message more aggressively.

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