Road safety remains one of India's most pressing public concerns, with children among the most vulnerable road users. While infrastructure improvements and enforcement measures continue to evolve, creating long term behavioural change requires awareness and responsible habits to be instilled from an early age. Recognising this need, BMW India Foundation launched Be Safe, Be Smart, a road safety education programme designed for primary school students. Since its inception in 2016, the initiative has combined classroom learning with immersive simulations to help young children understand traffic rules, safe road behaviour, and responsible decision making. Implemented in partnership with educational and road safety organisations, the programme has reached more than 85,000 students across Delhi NCR and Chennai.
In this interaction with TheCSRUniverse, Hardeep Singh Brar, President and Chief Executive Officer, BMW Group India, shares the vision behind the initiative, its experiential learning approach, key implementation insights, impact on young learners, and the Foundation's plans to expand its contribution towards safer roads in India.
Scroll down to read the full interview.
Q&A
Q. Could you share a brief overview of the program and its core objective?
A. As an automobile manufacturer, BMW Group India firmly believes that, in addition to making the safest products with a focus on passive and active safety in the vehicles, it is also imperative to promote road safety in our society. Be Safe, Be Smart is a road safety program of the BMW India Foundation. We work with primary school children, mainly the five to eight-year-olds, teaching them road safety basics. The idea is to get to them early, when they are still forming habits, and get them to stay safe around traffic. If we can shift how the younger generation thinks about roads, we are looking at fewer accidents down the line.
Q. What led to the decision to design this initiative specifically for primary school students?
A. Children pick things up fast. If you teach a seven-year-old to look both ways and use the zebra crossing, it becomes a memory he/she doesn't forget. Compare that to trying to change adult behaviour, which is much harder. We figured if we wanted lasting impact, we needed to start young, when children listen and want to do the right thing.
Q. How does the program simplify key traffic rules for young learners? Could you elaborate on the experiential learning approach?
A. To simplify learning, we have two components - “In-Class workshop” which covers various aspects of road safety, followed by an “Experiential Learning”, where students apply road safety techniques learnt during the workshop. We do classroom sessions first, which include short animated films, quizzes, and storytelling to keep it interesting. The interactive theory session helps them absorb the main principles. Then we move to simulate a real-life scenario where they can practice what they have learnt. We set up mini traffic scenarios in the playground with toy cars and bikes, working traffic lights, and proper road signs and zebra crossing. Children ride these toy cars and bikes and practice to understand from the perspective of a driver, passenger, as well as that of a pedestrian. Eg - crossing at the right spots, waiting for signals, and understanding what the signs mean.
Q. What have been the key implementation challenges and learnings from conducting these programs across various schools and cities?
A. One of the key learnings from the "Be Safe, Be Smart" programme has been the effectiveness of storytelling and experiential learning in improving road safety awareness among young students. The interactive audio-visual content, built around relatable characters and real-life road situations, helped students connect with road safety concepts in a memorable and engaging manner. Many students recalled specific conversations and examples from the story even after the sessions.
One of the key implementation challenges during the programme was adapting the delivery approach to suit different learning levels and attention spans among young students. Another encouraging observation was the significant improvement in student response rates and understanding between the pre-test and post-test assessments, highlighting the impact of the programme’s classroom sessions, simulation-based activities, and floor games.
Q. What tangible impact have you observed among participating students?
A. Children who go through the program are more alert around roads and remember to stop, look, and cross properly. But one of the unexpected benefits has been how they influence the adults around them. A child who insists their parent wait for the green light or tells them to use a helmet, seat belt and drive within speed limits creates a rippling effect. We receive very positive feedback on the sessions regularly from schools and teachers. BMW India Foundation has covered more than 85,000 students across schools in Delhi-NCR and Chennai, helping them become responsible road users.
Q. How does designating children as road safety ambassadors amplify impact?
A. Once you give a child that title, they take it seriously. They become little enforcers at home, reminding everyone to follow the rules. It moves beyond what they learned in school as they start educating others around them. So, you get entire communities being influenced by these children advocating for safe and smart road habits.
Q. What strategic partnerships have strengthened the program?
A. Since inception in 2016, we have worked with The Social Lab, ASSOCHAM Foundation and Schoolnet India to deliver the workshops and simulations. Delhi Traffic Police has also helped us to ensure that the correct information, rules, signals, and protocols are being imparted to the youngsters. Those partnerships give us the infrastructure and credibility to operate at scale.
Q. What are the future plans for scaling this initiative?
A. India aims to reduce road accident fatalities by 50% by 2030, aligning with the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, and aspires to reach near-zero fatalities by 2047. BMW India Foundation is committed to continue contributing to these national goals in its own meaningful way and will endeavour to expand the program to more cities to drive positive impact.
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