As part of its comprehensive approach to road safety, Toyota has long supported initiatives in Europe designed to improve traffic safety, promote safe driving practices and raise safety awareness in the community.
Among these is the European Road Safety Charter, an initiative sponsored by the European Commission to encourage concrete improvement actions for increasing road safety throughout Europe. By signing the Charter, Toyota has made a commitment to take steps within the company and in civil society to help improve road safety.
For example, our Customer Service Training department provides trainers for our National Marketing and Sales Companies with the knowledge and skills necessary to highlight the importance of safety and to explain the proper functioning of safety technologies to customers. Such training courses are mandatory for affiliated marketing company instructors before training retailer staff.
We have also made safety one of the core principles of the Code of Conduct. The Code requires a formal commitment from all employees to produce safe automotive products and services. They are also expected to set an example in road safety overall, by being careful and courteous drivers.
Among the actions in civil society that TME is conducting as part of its Charter commitment are:
- Sponsoring TOP-25, a pan-European awareness campaign about the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In 2008, TOP-25 held activities in 10 countries, reaching around 6,000 people across Europe. A new Driving Simulator – using a real Toyota car on virtual roads – was also launched to make participants even more aware of their driving capabilities and limits.
- Supporting a model communication campaign that was developed by Britain's Royal College of Art to communicate road safety issues specific to older drivers and pedestrians.
- Supporting the “Respect for People, Respect for Traffic” campaign in Turkey – which promotes safe driving through targeted communication activities e.g. distributing road safety education kits to local communities via Toyota retailers.
- Supporting the European Transport Safety Council's research and communication Performance Indicators Programme (PIN) to assess EU Member States' road safety performance and promote high-level debates on key road safety themes in relevant Member States.
