MANILA – With a single video, Nissan Philippines exposed Filipino drivers and challenged them to rethink what they know about road safety. The video, posted on multimedia journalist and car expert James Deakin’s Facebook page, revealed that 80% of the respondents failed the test—indicating that some Filipino drivers are unable to obey road signs due to simply not knowing what those signs actually mean. With 34 Filipinos dying every day due to vehicular accidents, the video was crafted to raise awareness of road safety through education, as well as give Filipinos the confidence and safety they need while driving by highlighting the unique Nissan Intelligent Mobility (NIM) system.
In line with the national government’s Road Safety Action Plan to reduce automobile-related deaths in half by 2020, Nissan sought to address two of the plan’s five pillars—Safer Vehicles, and Safer Road Users with its video by promoting safety through knowledge of the basic road signs, and by protecting its drivers from ignorant ones with NIM.
Posted with the caption, “It all starts with education”, the unboosted video received 318,000 views in less than a week, and received hundreds of comments on the need to raise the knowledge of local drivers. But beyond education, the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan has three other pillars—Improve Road Safety Management, Create Safer Roads, and Improve Trauma and Care Rehabilitation– that are key to preventing road accidents.
While netizens, advocates, and lawmakers debate the best way to go about protecting our nation’s roads from unsafe drivers, Nissan provides a proprietary technology that automatically reacts to exterior factors and conditions, such as alerting drivers of possible collisions, and stepping in to intervene with other dangers.
Nissan Philippines continues to uphold its commitment and responsibility in keeping roads safe through its cars, while continuously helping to train and discipline Filipino drivers. Through this simple video, Nissan hopes to show that change can’t happen overnight, and until it happens, drivers can still drive along Manila’s streets with confidence.
Learn more about Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility here1.
