Ford India launches Cartesy to promote safe driving

Ford India has launched a new campaign, dubbed Cartesy - to highlight behavioural issues impacting safe driving.

The campaign is aimed to bring into light road safety related issues like distracted driving, lane usage, road rage and pedestrian safety. The campaign also encourages drivers to be courteous and respectful to others on the road.

A survey was undertaken under the campaign to find out the top most reasons of distracted driving. According to its results - Millennials in India are most likely to use their mobile phones while driving to make or receive a call or text (44 per cent), use social media (31 per cent), or take a selfie (32 per cent).

Parents – often worrying about screen addiction for their children – also featured among the most distracted groups of drivers on the road, second only to millennial males. Interestingly, while overall mothers came out as slightly more responsible than other groups, they were still most likely to have read or watched something (35 per cent) while driving.

Using a phone while driving slows reaction times (notably braking reaction time, but also reaction to traffic signals), makes it difficult to keep in the correct lane, and to keep the correct following distances. Sending a text message takes about 10 seconds, which is the equivalent to 280 meters on a highway when a car is going 100 km/h.

Rahul Gautam, vice president, Marketing, Ford India, said, “More people face fatalities on Indian roads because of other’s faults. Ford is committed to helping raise awareness of road safety and educating drivers on safe driving practices.”