Ford’s business has always gone beyond making and selling cars, which is why the Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) initiative was introduced to increase road safety awareness in countries across the world, including India. In a successful year of DSFL training in India, this venture has trained over 4,300 drivers since its inception in 2009. This year will see this initiative continue further in its mission to promote safe, economic and eco-friendly driving.

DSFL is a unique program that focuses on combating the global epidemic of road fatalities. It has been customized to reflect driving etiquette and road conditions in India with theoretical guidance as well as practical vehicular training.

Today, the Ford India team is reiterating its strong commitment to the programme after another successful year for the initiative. The DSFL programme has trained over 2,500 drivers in 2011, almost double the number of participants since 2009.

“It is indeed great to see the expansion of a program all of us at Ford believe in,” said

Nigel Wark, executive director of Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford India. “DSFL is our wholehearted attempt to engage, involve and contribute to spread awareness about the on ground realities of road safety and help communities drive safely. We are all delighted to see such a great response to the program and hope to take it further in the coming year.”

2011 saw many significant developments on the DSFL front, such as:

• The highly interactive sessions were extended to include important stakeholder groups such as dealers, customers, fleet partners, influencers, and supplier partners
• Focusing on the expansion of the program, Ford India invited its wide network of dealerships in five major cities to be the key facilitators and partners. This promoted active participation and enthusiasm among the dealers and fostered stronger relations with customers, building a stronger understanding of cars among them.
• Major fleet operators such as Orix, Arval and Venus Cabs involved their entire fleet of drivers for training making the sessions a huge success.
• Drivers from the Indian Army were also trained under this project. These sessions have helped to spread the message of responsible driving to important influencer groups.
• We partnered with Team BHP (a popular car lovers’ forum) to organize DSFL sessions for their members. Rave comments and queries posted online are proof of the tremendous success this project has achieved.

Ford’s DSFL is an excellent project for learners as well experienced drivers. With the success of the programme and increasing interest from participants, we hope more Indians will sign up for training that could lead to safer roads for all.