Toyota Marks 40th Toyota Safety School for Children in Toyota City

Toyota City, Japan, May 21, 2014―Toyota Motor Corporation held a ceremony today here at the Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall to mark the 40th Toyota Safety School program.

Since 1975, Toyota has held a Toyota Safety School program here every year from late May to mid-July to teach fundamental traffic rules, such as proper ways of using pedestrian crossings, to children from kindergartens, nursery schools, and company day-care centers in and around Toyota City. A total of approximately 250,000 people (at 3,364 schools and facilities) have participated in the events through last year.

Approximately 200 people were invited to attend the ceremony including young children, educators, parents, and guardians from the Toyota City region as well as guests from the Toyota City Precinct of the Aichi Prefectural Police.

A special performance was held based on episodes from when the Toyota Safety School was first held. The secret origin of Safety Man, a Toyota traffic safety character, was revealed, and information concerning the longstanding aims of the school was presented.

Following the ceremony, Safety Man was joined by Safety Lady and the Kukku mascot, who taught the children how to better observe potential nearby dangers. The instruction included other core program material such as a road safety play with footage shot on roads, a sound quiz that had the children identify traffic-related sounds such as a car horn and sudden braking, and street crossing practice using a traffic signal.

This year’s program will run for 24 days between May 21 to July 11, and approximately 4,700 children from 105 kindergartens, nursery schools, preschools, and company day-care centers in and around Toyota City are expected to attend.

Toyota believes that realizing a society free of traffic casualties requires an integrated approach encompassing the development of ever-safer cars and technology, improvement of the traffic environment, and traffic safety education. This year's traffic-safety awareness campaign is one of Toyota's many continuing efforts toward that end.