Edelweiss Tokio Life Brings YAMRAJ to Mumbai with its campaign - Yamraj to the Rescue

Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance, India's fastest growing life insurance company, announced the launch of its 2 days Road Safety Awareness campaign – ‘YAMRAJ to the Rescue!’ in Mumbai. Earlier this month the campaign was carried out in cities like Pune and Ahmadabad. After the success of this campaign in these cities, Edelweiss plans to carry forward this initiative to other cities in India as well. The campaign will involve a Yamraj, who will be stationed at various traffic signals in Mumbai to raise awareness and promote road safety measures. The Yamraj will not take you to the other side, but guide you on how not to get there when travelling on the roads of Mumbai.

As per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on Accidental Death & Suicides in India, 2014, the total of 2219 cases of road accidents were reported in Mumbai in 2014. The accidental death rate (ADR) for 2014 for Mumbai was 49.5 %, the highest amongst the 4 metros, the ADR for Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata being 42.4 %, 45.5% and 4.9 % respectively. Hence Mumbai was the obvious choice for this initiative.

The safety awareness activity revolves around an actor dressed-up as ‘Yamraj’ standing at traffic signals educating pedestrians and motorists about:

i.                     Crossing roads while the signal is green

ii.                   Use zebra crossing

iii.                  Traffic rules

iv.                 Usage of helmets and seatbelts as an important and compulsory practice while driving

Besides, informing the pedestrians to use safe zones for crossing, avoiding cell phone use when walking on the road, etc. He will also engage with bikers, car owners halting at signal and educate them regarding traffic rules and on not over speeding while driving. The pedestrians and vehicle owners will be handed out a card highlighting safety tips that should be ‘Top of the Mind’ while crossing the road and while they are on the driver’s seat.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Yash Mohan, Head of Sales & CMO, Edelweiss Tokio Life said, ‘YAMRAJ to the Rescue’ is a part of ‘Safety Ki  Jaroorat’ initiative, in line with our brand philosophy of understanding the needs of our customers first. With this activity we want   to spread the message of personal & social safety while travelling. The consistent rise in road accidents, breaking of traffic rules and rash driving have claimed a number of lives or injured the victim permanently. We as life insurers take this as an opportunity to save lives and make this a continued and wide spread approach.”

In January 2014, Edelweiss Tokio Life had tied up with the Western railways in Mumbai to do an activity around commuter safety while travelling by trains. Now Edelweiss Tokio Life wants to extend this to target road safety. India has the highest number of road accidents in the world. With over 130,000 deaths annually, the country has overtaken China.