Promoting Safety Awareness (YRA)

Safety Awareness Initiatives Established in Japan in the 1970s

In 1965, Japan’s rapid economic growth was expediting motorization throughout the country, and as a result, traffic accidents were also rapidly increasing in number. To encourage safety awareness and efforts to ride safely among its customers, Yamaha Motor launched a “Monitor Trio Campaign.” Yamaha “YGS-1” 80cc sport models would be lent for free to 333 young riders (111 groups of three) between the ages of 16 and 20 for 80 days, on the condition that they always wear a helmet when riding and pledge to ride safely. Some 100,000 people from around the country applied to become monitors in this campaign and it turned out to be a great success, as all 333 participants completed the designated 1,000 km of riding over the 80-day period without a single accident or traffic violation. Then in 1968, a program of “Trail Riding Courses” targeting primarily beginner off-road riders was launched at the same time as the release of the “DT-1,” a model with full-fledged off-road performance. Conducted on dirt courses that would show effects and results more clearly, participants learned techniques for braking and shifting body weight, how the machine may react when riding off-road and more, all while providing a fun motorsports experience. These courses spread not only throughout Japan but also to the U.S., Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. Then the following year, Yamaha consolidated the motorcycle license training courses that dealers had been conducting independently around Japan into a unified corporate program, and then combined it with the Trail Riding Courses to form the “Yamaha Riding Safety Courses.” In 1972, the “Safety Promotion Division” was established as a clearly defined corporate division to manage both the riding safety programs and the sports and leisure promotional programs. This led to the creation of a standard offering of Yamaha-exclusive courses, such as classroom-based motorcycle license courses and riding safety courses for greater knowledge of traffic laws and riding etiquette, practical riding courses that taught skills for riding safely on the actual machine, and motorsports events that helped people acquire more advanced skills for greater riding enjoyment. The establishment of the Safety Promotion Division and these various courses also helped Yamaha gain knowhow for running them effectively. In these ways, Yamaha Motor has considered raising the awareness of safety among its customers a corporate responsibility since 50 years ago, and has a record of achievement in making the promotion of safety awareness part and parcel with its promotion of motorsports and leisure activities like motorcycle touring. Thanks to these policies and practices, Yamaha Motor earned a reputation in Japan’s motorcycle industry back then for “Yamaha Promotion,” much like its reputations for “Yamaha Handling” and “Yamaha Design.”

From Japan to the World: Communicating the Importance of Safety Face to Face through the Yamaha Riding Academy

Local dealers or the Yamaha Motor distributor form the bedrock for a YRA program. In each locality, mainly the people in charge of safety promotions and the instructors plan and implement the training courses, riding events and the like, while Yamaha Motor headquarters supports these local YRA activities by sending instructors, providing instructor training, offering suggestions for activities or events to try and developing the course curriculums. “YRA programs are carried out in the Near and Middle East, Central and South America, Africa,countries throughout Asia and the vast regions of Russia. The main participants vary and include general customers, students and organizations that use motorcycles in their jobs, such as police forces, government agencies and companies with motorcycle fleets. Depending on the region, there are YRA courses for vehicles other than motorcycles like ATVs,ROVs (Recreational Off-highway Vehicles) and snowmobiles, and the number of YRA events being held increases each year. In 2013, there were 1,359 YRA events  held worldwide involving around 66,000 participants,” says a representative from Yamaha Motor headquarters in Japan. “It’s a difficult task to prepare curriculums that fit the needs of each region, but the fundamentals of riding safety are the same everywhere. In the classroom sessions of the courses, people learn things like how to become aware of danger as quickly as possible, what actions are needed to avoid the danger and what kind of protective gear is necessary to minimize damage should an accident occur. Then in the practical training part of the courses, they are taught bthe three fundamentals of how to ride, turn and stop through practice until they have learned them well. One program of particular note is the Yamaha Safe Riding Science (YSRS) program being conducted in the ASEAN region and the countries of Central and South America in coordination with schools, etc., as part of their students’ education since 2005. The curriculum is based on a scientific approach to safety and the concept that ‘safe riding is about awareness and communication’ and ‘riding is a mental exercise and not about physical movement or operation.’

Motorcycling knowledge that is widespread in developed countries, such as how much distance is required to stop a bike at a red light or where a car’s blind spots are, is taught to the participants in ways that are easy-to-understand and spark intellectual interest. The program has been praised for how it effectively imparts safety education,”explains the Yamaha representative.As demand for these YRA programs increases, the importance of training more instructors to conduct the courses in each region increases as well. To answer this need, Yamaha Motor not only sends its own highly experienced instructors to put on YRA events directly but also has a training scheme that helps each region establish their own training system so that they can operate independently in their own localities.“To stimulate mutual motivation and the desire to reach higher levels of skill, we have a 3-level system of Bronze, Silver and Gold instructor licenses, and instructors with the Silver or Gold license are qualified to instruct and certify new instructors. This enables us to work together with the dealers and distributors to promote safety awareness among as many customers as possible. We want to keep expanding this system into the future,” the representative concludes. 

Spending Time and Effort to Become a Local Asset with Content Flexibility

“In Brazil for example, training is provided for police that intentionally uses rather difficult offroad grounds for practice to build their riding skills for all types of terrain. In Mexico, where motorcycles are often used for deliveries, we offer YRA training for companies operating delivery fleets. In Kenya, YRA training is provided for bike taxi operators. In these ways, we tailor YRA programs to fit the needs and conditions of each market or area,” explains the YMC representative.One of the countries that has achieved excellent results with YRA activities is India. Amid the efforts throughout India to encourage and support the trend for more women to get out into the community and actively pursue work and education, Yamaha released the “Cygnus Ray” scooter seeking to break down preconceptions that motorcycles are vehicles for men. To accompany this model’s launch, sales company Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt. Ltd. (YMIS) has proactively initiated programs like its all-women “Yamaha Female Riding Training” (YFRT) riding safety courses.Then in conjunction with the 2014 launch of the new family-oriented “Cygnus Alpha”model, YMIS expanded these programs to a broader family focus by initiating the Yamaha Family Safety Program (YFSP). The YFSP puts on model displays, test-ride events and sales consultations in residential apartment areas and the like, but also includes riding lessons targeting housewives, support services for first-time motorcycle license seekers and a “Yamaha Children Safety Program” (YCSP) of traffic safety lessons for kids featuring a costumed character named Zippy. Zippy and YMIS staff visit schools around the country and sing and dance to the “Zippy Song” about traffic safety sung by the children that are India’s future, so they learn about the importance of traffic safety while having fun.As of August 2014, these YFSP and YCSP activities have been conducted a total of 768 times,gathering some 149,600 participants and resulting in about 1,300 on-site sales of Yamaha scooters.For its comprehensive promotional efforts centered around YRA activities, YMIS’s YRA Team was chosen for the “2014 YRA Best Practice” award by the CS Center at Yamaha Motor in Japan.“The important thing for us is to keep these buds of safety awareness and demand building activities that have sprouted around the world alive and growing. We must make sure that our motorcycles and other Yamaha products don’t lose their presence and value in people’s lives due to the diversification of interests and changing social environments in each region. This means that it’s essential for us to continue to provide programs and activities that offer the knowledge and technical skills that customers can use to enjoy Yamaha products with assurance, as well as offer people more opportunities to ride our products. In Japan where our corporate headquarters is located, we currently offer not only riding classes for children with their parents but also experiential lessons for motorcycle license seekers and riding classes for women and for returning riders,” adds the representative from Yamaha Motor. 

The strength of these programs lies in their ongoing continuity and growth. There is no finish line in Yamaha’s efforts in safety education and promotion whenever and wherever they are needed.