Honda inaugurates Children Traffic Training Park in Ludhiana

Honda is one of those motorcycle makers that consider rider safety to be of paramount importance. It offers ABS on most of its motorcycles sold across the world. This time around, though, the Japanese company's Indian arm, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has inaugurated its first-ever Children Traffic Training Park in Ludhiana, Punjab. For this initiative, HMSI collaborated with the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana.

Present at the occasion, Yadavinder Singh Guleria, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing at HMSI thanked the Municipal Corporation Of Ludhiana for supporting the company in extending its road-safety awareness initiatives in the city. The activity highlights at the Children's Traffic Training Park in Ludhiana comprise of free-of-cost training for kids, females and new riders. For kids, training will be imparted for cycling and will be trained on CRF50 motorcycles to learn 'Safety with Fun'. Females will be imparted training free-of-cost and will be able to learn to ride within just 4 hours. For new riders, there will be simulators to help understand the basics of riding and experience the possible dangers on the road. Everyone will be trained at the Park by male and female Honda Safety Instructors.

The Park in Ludhiana is Honda's tenth such tie-up in India, after cities such as Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Hyderabad. HMSI also has a Road Safety Education Centre in Indore to educate people about road safety through modules. HMSI is not the only one with such initiatives; its erstwhile partner Hero MotoCorp also has its Ride Safe India initiative. Kawasaki has also been active in this department and, in association with Institute of Driving, Training and Research, Pune, it also carried out a road safety initiative in Pune this year. Yamaha has been carrying out safe riding initiatives in India across various cities like Nagpur, Dehradun, Guwahati, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata under the Yamaha Safe Riding Science banner since 2008.

Rider safety initiatives are important in India as there is a lack of training prior to a rider being handed a license. This lack of training exposes riders to various risks like terrain changes, traffic, etc. for which they are little prepared. Creating awareness and training masses on how to tackle such risks can not only make riding fun but also safe. This way, the riders will always be prepared for an unforeseen situation and tackle it readily. A manufacturer like HMSI creating rider awareness is a good sign as it shows the company is not interested in just selling its products in India but equipping the masses with tools that help them tackle uncertainties on the road. This helps in making the roads safer and accessible for folks with different skill levels.