Launching the Office of Safe Driving Promotional Operations(1970)

Soichiro Honda watches police motorcyclists in training. (Photo courtesy of Masuo Uotani)

The number of cars on Japanese roads passed the 19 million mark in 1970, signaling the country's emergence in an age of full-scale motorization. However, the dark side of that story was an unprecedented number of deaths due to traffic accidents, for despite the quality of a rapidly developing expressway system there were to date 16,765 such fatalities. It also was the year in which the accusations by American consumer advocate Ralph Nader regarding a lack of automotive safety became public knowledge in Japan.

It was necessary to put an immediate halt to the rising tide of traffic deaths. This was certainly the sentiment at Honda, which-with its awareness of public safety- believed such a goal would not be achieved through the manufacturing process alone, but through the added use of driver education. However, the reason that Honda began working with the concept of promoting driving skills was not due simply to the public's interest in auto safety.

Even before the establishment of Honda's Office of Safe Driving Promotional Operations, the company had already set up a foundation for education in safe driving. The so-called Police-Motorcycle Training program was well under way, with instructors from Honda providing key training for members of the Police Motorcycle Team. This training program had originated with an inquiry by a team leader from the Central Japan District Police, who had called on Suzuka's Safe Driving Training Center to ask how on-duty police motorcycle team members could be saved from serious injuries. By October 1964, Honda instructors had begun the first training of motorcycle police at Suzuka Circuit.

Training activities eventually spread nationwide, mainly among police departments, and on June 6, 1969, the inaugural Police Motorcycle Meeting was held. It was a great success, producing achievements in performance among police motorcycle team members and helping them achieve a deeper understanding of safety.

Training new instructors

"We'd welcome an opportunity to be tested publicly," Senior Managing Director Michihiro Nishida confidently declared before members of the National Diet. It was September 11, 1970, during the height of the consumer movement, when Nishida was called upon as a witness at a Diet meeting regarding the N360, which had been cited as having certain safety problems. Nishida's statement was in reply to a request by one Diet member to hold public tests to verify the safety of Honda vehicles.

Ultimately, it was decided that public testing would not be necessary. However, Nishida felt that Honda should act in some way, having made such a bold statement before the Diet. When Nishida reported on the process of deliberations in the Diet to Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa, he added a certain suggestion. "As durable consumer goods, cars become products only when we provide the software called 'proper riding technique,' in addition to guaranteeing their safety as hardware. Therefore, we must turn our minds toward the belief that this software is also a product. Since 1964, we've had safety training for motorcycles at the Suzuka Circuit, and this training is designed for police motorcycle team members, delivery people of the Post Office, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation. However, I'd like to expand that to include general users, applying our invaluable expertise in the field of automobiles."

Honda and Fujisawa made their decisions on the spot. "You're absolutely right," they said. "We think that's a great idea. We will definitely act upon it." Thus, from that day on Nishida was entrusted with the creation of this new software.

Honda established the Office of Safe Driving Promotion Operations on October 10. Honoring its social obligation as an automobile manufacturer, the objective was to promote safe driving nationwide. In acknowledgment of the immediate need, the program was launched only twenty days after Nishida's appearance at the Diet.

"I worked on the idea with all my might, for twenty days straight," Nishida recalled. "And on the first day of October I was finally ready to launch the program. But actually I had no idea how I was to proceed. I was fumbling for some sort of direction."

No organization existed that might serve as a reference for the program, but with Nishida as the leader it gradually took shape, drawing new instructors along with input from police agencies, scholars, and other experts. Following the October launch, a system was assembled for the recruitment of employees into the Safe Driving Promotions office. The pool of candidates included those at the Head Office, branch offices and the network of prefectural agencies and sales offices involved with motorcycles and cars. By January 1971, associates of Honda and its related companies were applying for instructors' positions. In the end, fifty were selected from approximately 300 applicants. For seven days during the instructors' training period, they devoted themselves to the skills and theories they would need, barely taking time out for lunch.

"I was truly overcome by a feeling of respect for that first group of instructors," said Nishida. "They demonstrated a total devotion to the program. In fact, I was amazed at how devoted one could become when the work was not for his own sake but that of the public." Thus, it was the combination of expertise gained at Suzuka for training police motorcycle riders, the enthusiasm of the instructors, and the decisions of the management that had made possible the launch of this organization. It was a first for the auto industry.

At a time when the phrase "safe driving" was not widely understood, Honda had begun promoting the concept to a society on the verge of motorization.

Honda's basic stance on Safe Driving Promotion was announced in a full-page advertisement in national newspapers in March 1971.

March 16, 1971, was the day Honda announced its program of Safe Driving Promotions, running a full-page advertisement in major newspapers throughout Japan.

The advertisement depicted "Mr. Rooney's story," a conversation between Mr. Honda and Chief Rooney of the NASA Control Center during the Honda president's visit to the U.S. The public message contained in the story was Honda's corporate stance toward "implementing future activities based on the desire to establish sincere communications among makers and users."

Honda's message offered the following three activities as specific examples:

1) Activities for promoting safe driving
2) Implementation of 100 percent inspections
3) Striving to develop a non-polluting engine

The message under "Activities for promoting safe driving" promised that Safe Driving Promotion Operations would promote such activities to every sector of the public. In addition, a declaration consisting of eleven statements was made as Honda's basic policy for the promotion of safe driving. It included the training of instructors, along with promotion and support for the establishment of a driver's safety club. The activities of Safe Driving Promotion Operations thus defined, they quickly spread throughout Japan. By 1972, just two years after the office's establishment, the number of certified safe-driving promoters exceeded 8,000. The number of participants in drivers" safety classes reached 60,000, and program activities continued their evolution into a nationally organized system.

Honda's motorcycle riding simulator lets the rider "experience danger in safety."

Having declared its promotion and support for the formation of a drivers" safety club, in March 1972 Honda established the Safety Club Office within its Office of Safe Driving Promotion Operations. The main purpose of the club was to facilitate safe driving. It was unique in that it was directed not only at Honda customers but also at users of motorcycles and automobiles in general. The Safety Club pledged that it would:

1) Contribute to the building of a safe traffic society by promoting a safe-driving philosophy and appropriate skills
2) Actively contribute to traffic safety in local communities
3) Enhance driving skills and build friendships among club members

The main responsibility of the Safety Club Office was to plan and carry out events for friendship exchanges among the many Safety Clubs across Japan, based on the voluntary efforts of club members.

By 1980, these activities were the basis of a national organization called the All Japan Safety Club Gathering, which undertook various activities in order to let the world know that these "skilled riders" existed. At its peak, as many as 7,000 club members from all over Japan would gather at the Suzuka Circuit. The gatherings continued as regular events, promoting friendship among club members.

Today, the event has been taken over by HART (Honda Active Riders Terminal), changing its name to Bike World Suzuka. The group's objectives, however, remain the same.

Singapore Safety Driving Center, established in 1985

In 1974, Hideo Sugiura, then the director of Safe Driving Promotion Operations, used the in-house publication Safety Japan (SJ) to introduce three key guidelines, signaling the program's future direction:

1) Educating beginning drivers
2) Approaching juvenile problems
3) Applying a scientific approach to traffic accidents,including surveys and analyses

Juvenile issues became the main focus of the Office of Safe Driving Promotion Operations. From the 1970s through the '80s, young, rebellious joyriders called "bosozoku" had become a major problem. Increasingly the public was coming to think of all young motorcyclists as being bosozoku. In the 1980s, the National High School PTA Federation unveiled its "Three Don'ts" Movement, stating as a rule that no high school students should obtain licenses, purchase motorcycles or even ride them. This movement unconditionally robbed Japan's youth, even the responsible ones, of the pleasures of riding. For motorcyclists, the winds were not blowing in their favor.

Honda, however, forcefully argued that instead of taking motorcycles away from the country's youth, it was necessary to approach them with the concept of safe driving in order to help them acclimate to a motorized society. Moreover, the company put its argument into action by holding symposiums on juvenile traffic-safety education. For two years starting in July 1974 in Fukuoka, Honda held 23 symposiums nationally. High-school teachers in charge of safety education, Family Court examiners and members of police departments participated in discussing the importance of driver education for the young.

Honda maintained the following four points in these symposiums:

1) Rather than think only about preventing accidents among high school students, let's think in a broader sense about nurturing the young into sound individuals.
2) We first must train and qualify instructors.
3) Let's develop a movement throughout our communities.
4) There are good trial activities in which the unique attraction is in balancing a motorcycle at low speeds. (The fun in motorcycling is not limited to speed alone.)

The major emphasis of such discussions was on promoting safe, responsible use of motorcycles among the young.

Honda, having completed its symposium on "Approaching juvenile problems," became actively involved with its other two guidelines, as introduced by Sugiura: "educating beginning drivers" and "using a scientific approach to traffic accidents (scientific surveys and analyses)."

Honda Motorcyclist School (HMS) was started in 1978 in order to stress driver education for the young. It was aimed at teaching the basics of riding midsize and larger motorcycles for recently licensed drivers. Essentially a school for the nurturing of successful riders, it was held and sponsored by the Traffic Education centers at Suzuka, Okegawa, and Fukuoka, with the participation of wholesale and retail dealers.

Later in 1982, a one-day HMS course was offered as the main attraction of an All Honda Gathering project entitled "Safety Improvement Strategy." At another project called "New Challenge to Safety," the Sports Riding School was held, mainly through wholesale and retail dealers. Eventually, many other educational programs were started, including a class just for women in 1989 at the Sports Riding School.

Programs such as these were unique in that they offered a chance for riders to, as Mr. Honda himself put it, "experience danger in safety." For example, the one-day HMS course included training in high-speed braking and abrupt stops, a feature unique to Honda. Yet, despite offering the chance to experience danger in safety, there was, of course, a limit to what could be taught using actual vehicles. Thus, it was impossible to experience some dangerous situations while being on public roads. Therefore, the creation of a simulator that could offer a more "realistic" experience became the biggest issue of research after 1988.

To develop the necessary simulator, Honda R&D was assigned to create the hardware and the Office of Safe Driving Promotion Operations was assigned the software. In 1993, the Honda Riding Simulator (for motorcycles) was completed. Featuring a computerized screen, it was proudly introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show that year. The simulator was designed with a motorcycle body that moved forward, backward, left, and right, simulating an actual ride in accordance with road conditions displayed on the screen. It was a significant step beyond conventional education methods, allowing the user to experience the dangers of the real world in complete safety, and therefore enhance his ability to anticipate them.

Programs of this type were based on surveys and analyses of actual traffic accidents. However, in the early 1970s, when there was no existing nationwide date on such accidents, Safe Driving Promotion Operations conducted a survey of motorcycle traffic accidents involving Honda associates. It was based on the experiences of 1,764 people who had caused accidents to others, had themselves been victims, or who had self-inflicted accidents. The data was carefully analyzed by incident type (for example, an accident involving a car and a motorcycle), the numbers of accidents, and the details concerning the accidents. Honda, according to the results of its analysis in April 1972, made several suggestions to government administrators and others involved in traffic safety:

1) Motorcycle drivers must conduct themselves in the knowledge that some automobile drivers simply do not notice the presence of motorcyclists around them.
2) Educate high-school-age drivers between sixteen and nineteen, or those who are within two years of having obtained licenses, on driving technology and the need to obey traffic rules. Since then, Honda's Safe Driving Education curriculum has improved continuously, employing research that includes accident-data analysis and expert opinions from the fields of medicine, behavioral psychology, and engineering.

The Safe Driving Promotion Operations began operating overseas in 1972. It was at the New Year's press conference that Mr. Honda declared that Honda "wished to stress Safe Driving Promotion activities in overseas countries." In doing so, he announced the company's hopes of contributing to a global decrease in traffic accidents.

From that point, corporate activities took on new momentum. In 1973, Honda made donations, loaned vehicles, and contributed its expertise in safe-driving education to MSF, a safe-driving promotional organization in the U.S. Honda sent six instructors to South Korea as part of a program to train local instructors for a full-scale program. Activities since then have continued to emphasize motorcycle safety, using driver education to prevent accidents.

Said Masayuki Yoshimura, who was involved in Safe Driving Promotion Operations for more than twenty years, "You have to start by training people to become good instructors. I believe the most important thing is to train people globally for safe driving education."

It is not so easy to promote safe driving in many countries at once, each with their own cultures and customs. For example, some countries with high average temperatures do not require motorcyclists to wear helmets, gloves, boots, or other protective gear, since doing so could exhaust the rider. However, that does not mean that safe driving education can be altogether ignored.

"I often refer to the three S's: sales, service and safety," Yoshimura said. "After all, Honda's strength is in expanding its business using a combination of those three things."

As of 1997, Honda's Safe Driving Promotion activities had grown to encompass 35 countries. With the growing popularity of Honda products overseas, the circle of safe-driving education will benefit the lives of many more people.

Through the activities of the Safe Driving Promotion Operations, Honda had propagated the concept of protecting customers from accidents by providing personal care at its dealerships. The phrase "handing out safety" was born out of this spirit, in reference to the dealers" desire to advise their customers about safe driving.

Since November 1970, Honda motorcycle dealers in Japan have implemented their own talks using "Safety Points," a booklet packaged along with the vehicles for use in product delivery. Currently, dealers give simple instructions on driving technique to beginners, and encourage their customers to participate in the Honda Riding School. The dealers also strive to improve themselves by obtaining the Instructor's Certificate from the Motorcycle Safe Driving Promotion Committee, which is given to those who pass the committee's official test.

Honda auto dealers are also involved, employing the Safety Coordinator System in place since 1994. Through this program, salesmen participate in safe-driving classes and answer customer questions. Also under way is a plan to train salesmen to provide technical instruction on safe driving. Activities continue to unfold, enabling Honda to "hand out safety" on a one-to-one basis.

As the safety features of the automobile (the hardware) continue to improve, so does the "software" that accompanies it. The goal is being met, and drivers everywhere are experiencing the degree of safety that driver education provides.