With more than a million road accidents reported every year, South Africa has one of the poorest road safety records, According to a 2018 World Health Organization report. The Ministry of Transport and the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) have been working to increase awareness about road safety and significantly reduce the number of accidents.

As a responsible corporate citizen with a heritage of serving communities in which it operates, Mahindra in South Africa has partnered ArriveAlive.co.za to help drive road safety awareness across the African nation.

The ‘Safer Drives, Safer Lives’ campaign will kick off on ArriveALive’s website and on its social media channels, with a series on safety equipment in vehicles and crash test ratings. This will include features on passive safety features like the ISOFIX anchor points for child seats, airbags and side-impact bars as well as the active safety features like ABS brakes and electronic brake-force distribution.

For Mahindra, vehicle safety has always been of prime importance, and the company has always designed vehicles with high safety features. The company recently received the Safer Choice Award from the Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP), for achieving the highest crash-test score ever recorded for a vehicle in India. The XUV300 was since ratified with a five-star vehicle safety rating, making it the safest vehicle ever tested for the South African market.

“Vehicular safety awareness is very often neglected in favour of performance features and creature comforts,” said Rajesh Gupta, CEO, Mahindra South Africa. “We would like to educate the public to consider a vehicle’s safety credentials and, to understand the role and operation of the various safety features in vehicles,” he added.

Mahindra South Africa also intends to hit the road with the upgraded XUV300 for a series of fun and educational safety events across South Africa. The event will kick-off in Mpumalanga and vend its way through Gauteng, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. “All too often, the cause [of road accidents and fatalities] is linked to driver error, and a misunderstanding of vehicle dynamics and safety equipment,” reasons Advocate Johan Jonck, Manager, ArriveAlive.co.za. The hope is that the ‘Safer Drives, Safer Lives’ campaign will address these issues, bring down the number of injuries and fatalities in South Africa.