On August 11th, 2017, a workshop on Safer Cars was organized by Consumer Voice in collaboration with the State Partner for Bihar – The Janaki Foundation. The initiative is part of the campaign to advocate for safer cars for consumers. The consumer demand for safer cars will push for better safety regulation and standards in India at par with global safety standards.

 

Mr. Ravi Shankar, Senior Program Manager, The Janaki Foundation welcomed all the participants and officials for the program. Elaborating on the objectives of the consultation, Mr. Ravi said that these types of program must be organized regularly in Bihar to spread Car Safety/Road Safety awareness among the people to minimize the death occurred in the accident. People must follow the traffic rules and ensure that they drive carefully. Mr. Anup Kumar, Master Trainer from NEXA, Maruti Automobiles spoke about the importance of awareness regarding Car Safety and discussed various aspects of the safety such as seat belts, airbags, break assist, Electronic Control system etc.

Ms. Rinki Sharma from Consumer Voce New Delhi mentioned the various aspects regarding the Road safety measures with the presentation. She described the different safety measures of Car Safety She said that only 4% of car buyers place safety at the top of their list of criteria for choosing a new vehicle. Car safety is so important, not only for drivers but for all road users. He also said that in India when buyers go to buy a car they usually see- price, value for money, brand, mileage, colour, appearance, performance, fuel economy, Size and their last priority is safety. She has briefly discussed about Bharat New Vehicle Assessment Programme and urged the government to implement the same without compromising on any quality standards.

She also mentioned that by knowing more about the safety options that are available, we hope that this will lead to more informed buying decisions and, hopefully, safer choices leading to safer roads.”

Post the presentation, a short film was shown to the participants on car safety/road safety measure and to sensitize them of the loss one faces in life post the accident.

After the film Mr. Vijay Kumar, Public Health  Discussed briefly about importance of safety in this fast changing scenario and emphasized on the need of the implementation of BNCAP on time.

Participants asked questions on various safety aspects which were answered by Experts.Consumers, Consumer activist, NGO’s and civil society organizations took part in the programme and appreciated the Initiative.