TOYOTA SUPPORTS THE LAUNCH OF THE BRITISH RED CROSS CAMPAIGN ‘DON’T BE A BYSTANDER’
27 May 2005 - Toyota

Toyota (GB) PLC will be supporting the British Red Cross in a partnership over a three year period to promote their UK ‘Don’t be a Bystander Campaign’. Launched today the campaign will be targeting parents and children to teach them about first aid and road safety.

The campaign aims to equip over 100,000 children of all ages and their parents with essential life-saving first aid skills and road safety knowledge with a series of 150 first aid sessions across the country. The campaign will take place at venues including shopping centres, theme parks, schools, town centres, beaches and parks.

The campaign is aiming to tackle the findings by a UK wide survey conducted by the Children’s Forum for Toyota and the British Red Cross. The results found that over half (60 per cent) of children who are currently most at risk from road traffic accidents (those aged 9-13) do not have enough knowledge of first aid to help themselves and others at the scene of a traffic accident. Over 1,800 children aged 9-13 are killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents every year and research shows that many of these children’s lives could have been saved if first aid was given at the scene before the arrival of the emergency services.

Matt Harrison, Marketing Director for Toyota (GB) PLC said: ''We are pleased to continue our support for the British Red Cross with this campaign to provide the training to help reduce injuries and save lives. As a major motor manufacturer Toyota bears particular responsibility towards road safety. This campaign also supports our vision which aims to reduce deaths caused by traffic accidents to zero.''

Speaking about the campaign launch, Matt Overd, Head of First Aid Service Development at the British Red Cross said: ''The British Red Cross has a unique contribution to make to road safety.

''Whilst we support accident prevention measures, we believe that the application of basic first aid at the scene of an accident can be life saving. This summer we want to encourage parents to make sure their children learn first aid and become aware of road safety by attending one of our free first aid sessions or logging on to our website to find out more.''

Toyota is working continuously to improve the safety of its vehicles both passive and active. Passive safety is aimed at protecting drivers and passengers from injury. Front, side and curtain airbags have now been introduced across car ranges, along with pretensioners and force limiters. Toyota is not just reducing life-threatening injuries but also less severe injuries that can impair the quality of life. More advanced airbag systems, such as knee and chest/abdomen/waist airbags are being introduced. Indeed, Toyota was the first manufacturer to introduce knee airbags in a high volume model – the Avensis.

Toyota is also aiming at the larger goal of preventing accidents from occurring in the first place (active safety). It believes active safety measures have played and will continue to play an increasingly important role. Technologies such as ABS, Traction Control, Brake Assist and Vehicle Stability Control (known as VSC) have made it possible to use electronic systems to assist drivers in manoeuvring through many kinds of road conditions and situations. The development of new technologies such as Toyota''s Pre-crash technology and VDIM (Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management) will greatly contribute to saving many lives, and that reason alone makes the investment worthwhile. Further information on Toyota and the Red Cross free first aid sessions can be found on www.toyota.co.uk/redcross and www.redcross.org.uk/firstaid.

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