Mercedes-Benz, along with its various group companies in India, has launched a corporate social responsibility initiative called Safe Roads. At present around 1,40,000 people are killed annually in road accidents across India. Merc's initiative aims to help reduce the alarming rates of road accident fatalities in the country by spreading awareness about road safety.

The Safe Roads initiative is a road show that aims to spread the message of road safety through physical demonstration, visual aids and research reports. Mercedes has brought in special exhibits from Germany to help with the physical demonstration.

The show includes a belt slide exhibit which enables visitors to experience the impact of seatbelts in a crash environment, airbags exhibit with front, curtain and knee airbags, a body-in-white car exhibit highlighting important core elements of a car’s structure and alcohol goggles that simulates the impairments that arise due to alcohol consumption.

Another highlight of the show is the original 2009 Experimental Safety Vehicle which illustrates safety features such as Pre-Safe, auxiliary braking system and interactive vehicle communication.

The first Safe Roads event will be held at Galgotia University in Greater Noida in the coming few days. After that, it'll go on to Ahmedabad in May, to Pune and Mumbai in October and to Chennai and Bangalore in November this year. Entry is open to all.