Death on South Africans is so much of a daily occurance we, as road users, have become ‘immunised’ and all to blasé about the ongoing loss of life, family trauma and phenomenal costs associated with simply not obeying the rules of the road.
To help combat this, the Suzuki Grand Vitara is revving up for an ambitious mission: championing road safety awareness.
Suzuki Auto South Africa has joined forces with FleetMax Africa to create the DriveSMART with Suzuki campaign. This road-safety curriculum will be broadcast across social media channels, aiming to make a significant impact.
Ashref Ismail with one of the Suzuki Grand Vitara's
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“Every year, over 14 000 lives are lost on South Africa’s roads, and countless others suffer serious injuries due to vehicle accidents,” explains Ashref Ismail, CEO of FleetMax Africa. “Young people bear a disproportionate burden of these incidents, and we’re determined to change that.”
Beyond the human toll, these accidents exact a staggering economic cost — R150-billion annually. FleetMax Africa, a proudly South African transport consultancy, specialises in driving and road safety training. Their team, led by Ismail – a seasoned expert with more than 20 years of experience in road safety education, traffic management, and law enforcement — comprises highly qualified professionals from transport, traffic and enforcement backgrounds.
While this marks Suzuki’s latest commitment to road safety, the automaker is also actively partnering with Wheel Well. This organization focuses on child road safety and will receive support from Suzuki for its Halo Beanie project. The initiative aims to reduce child pedestrian fatalities and injuries caused by road traffic accidents by providing reflective gear — in the form of beanies — especially in rural areas.
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Turning back to the Suzuki-FleetMax collaboration: Suzuki will contribute two Grand Vitara GLX models for use in a series of training programs across South Africa. These programs will also involve filming road safety videos, each lasting between two and three minutes. Covering some 120 road safety topics — including defensive driving and vehicle maintenance — the videos will have a lasting impact and can be freely shared across social channels.
Brendon Carpenter, Brand Marketing Manager of Suzuki Auto South Africa, sums it up: “Together, we can shift the tide and ensure that owning and driving a car remains an exciting key to freedom for young people.”
Colin Windell for Colin-on-Cars in association with
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