Eicher Trucks and Buses in association with SIAM kicks off National Road Safety Week 2020

by Suman Gupta

Organises Health and training campaigns across India

New Delhi, January, 2020: Eicher Trucks and Buses, part of  VE Commercial Vehicles Limited, (VECV) kicked off National Road Safety Week in association with SIAM from 11^th -17^th January. Taking forward its initiative to spread awareness on road safety among the driver community, Eicher planned numerous activities and campaigns across the country which were in line with this year’s theme “Bringing Change through Youth Power”.

The company organised health and training sessions across 20 cities such as Gurgaon, Kolkata, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, Vadodara, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and Rewari amongst others. The activities touched over 300 drivers with the health camps and over 4000 individuals through training workshops.

To address the critical issue of driver healthcare, six Eicher Driver Care vans camped at different locations in six cities for health check-ups for drivers.  This activity will be conducted under the supervision of the team of Dr Shroff Charitable Eye Hospital and other hospitals at the regional level.

The training initiative involved driver training workshops on aspects like safe transportation, road signs, fuel conservation, maintenance and pre-operational checks, operating new systems such as new-age IDIS – Intelligent Driver Information system, as well as environmental conservation. These trainings were conducted by experienced VECV trainers, with easy-to-understand audio visuals focused on driver training and road safety awareness. These intensive sessions focused on softer issues as well, such as consequences of distraction while driving with mobile phones, fatigue etc. It also includes incorrect driving practices which may have an impact on vehicle performance.

Eicher also held interactive sessions on road safety for school students with competitions at the regional level, targeting over 3000 students.

Speaking on the occasion, Vinod Aggarwal, MD & CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles said, “It is important to recognise the role of truck drivers for the success of the CV industry. Drivers require awareness about health and safety practices for their welfare and protection. Vision and hearing ability are important areas for driver fitness and organised facilities to periodically check and treat the same has often been a neglected area. Our initiatives are focused to make transportation safer in India with health-checks for drivers and educating them on safe driving practices”.

On the association with Eicher, Mr Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM added, “Given the alarming cases of fatalities on the roads, our efforts are to reduce these cases, change the bleak picture of road safety and make the country safer to drive. This year, too, we have taken several measures to improve the situation. Our association with Eicher should, therefore, help us spread more awareness on the issue and promote practices of safer driving in the long run.”

Eicher CSR Program targets to create a huge impact on the driver community. Under the Eicher Group Foundation, the company has been running a host of health and training initiatives to cater to issues pertaining to the truck drivers. Eicher Driver Care programme for vision & hearing healthcare has been running for over three years in association with Dr Shroff Charitable Eye Hospital, having covered 44,000 drivers till date. Eicher’s several training initiatives have covered over 2 lakh drivers in the last several years, apart from 5000 drivers have been trained and certified under pre-licensing driver training program via an industry institution collaborative model. Every year Eicher road safety education programme for school covered over 70,000 students, to help them develop as responsible citizen, sensitive to road safety.

About Eicher Trucks & Buses: Eicher Trucks and Buses has the lineage of three decades of operations in India. Adopting the most professional and holistic approach to modernize the Indian trucking industry, their brand philosophy, “Go Pro”, promises to deliver best-in-class fuel efficiency, higher loading capacity, superior uptime and overall vehicle lifetime profitability. Eicher Trucks and Buses (ETB) is present in the LMD range with a strong presence in the 4.9T-16T truck segment and an ever increasing market share in 16T-55T heavy duty trucks segment. Eicher Pro Series buses also have a strong presence in the Light and Medium segment along with market leadership in the school bus segment.

About VE Commercial Vehicles Limited (VECV):VE Commercial Vehicles Limited (VECV) is a joint venture between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors Limited. In operation since July 2008, the company includes the complete range of Eicher branded trucks and buses, exclusive distribution of Volvo Trucks in India, engine manufacturing and exports for Volvo group, non-automotive engines and Eicher component business. A multi-brand, multi-division company, backed by innovative products & services, VECV today, is recognised as an industry leader for modernizing commercial transportation in India and developing world.