Thai Yamaha Motor Opens Motorcycle Training Facility for Improved Safety

Thai Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (TYM), motorcycle manufacturing subsidiary of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., opened the newly constructed Yamaha Riding Academy (YRA) training facility on the company's grounds on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. The 84 million baht (approx. 280 million yen) facility is the Yamaha Motor group's first permanent training facility outside of Japan, and is designed to promote riding safety on a region-wide scale.

The YRA facility occupies an area of 18,843 m² with a training course complete with an S-shaped track section, a successive, 90-degree cornering "crank" section and a sand track to simulate a variety of riding situations. The facility also has a large meeting room with a seating capacity of 265, lecture rooms and a riding simulator room.

Thai government dignitaries including Suwit Khunkitti, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, joined Yamaha Motor president and CEO Takashi Kajikawa and TYM president Takahiko Goan at the facility's opening ceremony.

Since 2004, there have been more than 70,000 motorcycle accidents annually in Thailand. For the last 25 years, TYM has been conducting ongoing motorcycle riding safety programs, and from 2005 the company has collaborated with the Thai Ministry of Transport to hold between 40 and 50 riding safety courses throughout the country each year. Furthermore, the company holds official riding tests for civil servants, and issues approval letters to participants who pass the test, certifying them as qualified riders. Holders of approval letters are entitled to receive a motorcycle rider's license.

TYM will continue to strive to improve the quality of its riding safety programs by adopting the following four official YRA curriculums.

①　

Riding Safety Course

This classroom and practical training course provides riding safety instruction for students and general license holders.

②　

Instructor Training Course

This "Train the Trainer" course provides training for riding safety instructors from dealerships or other organizations such as driving schools.

③　

License Training Course

This course provides both classroom and practical training to enable participants to take a test officiated by the traffic bureau and receive an approval letter that entitles them to receive a rider's license.

④　

Large Motorcycle Riding Safety Course

This classroom and practical course provides riding safety instruction for owners of large motorcycles.

TYM will use YRA courses in ongoing efforts to increase the number of participants in riding safety courses, while also training dealer instructors in Thailand and other parts of the ASEAN region as a means to spread riding safety at the grassroots level through dealer instructors.

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Yamaha Motor group's safety promotion activities

Yamaha personal mobility products - motorcycles, personal watercraft and ATVs - are enjoyed by a variety of customers in diverse environments throughout the world. Used in a variety of ways, these products offer personal fulfillment and add to the quality of people's lives worldwide. For the Yamaha Motor group, providing quality products to customers is only the first step, however. Yamaha also wants to ensure that these products are being used correctly and safely. For this reason the Yamaha Motor group provides information about its products and teaches customers the proper way to use them. Yamaha also conducts safety programs at schools, events and symposia so that people can fully experience the convenience, the fun and the joy that Yamaha products deliver.

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The user-oriented Yamaha Riding Academy (YRA) program

Yamaha Motor Academy (YRA) was established in 2004 to promote motorcycle safety by integrating three different Yamaha programs - (1) the Safety Promotion Program, (2) the Race Promotion Program, and (3) the Product Promotion Program. The function and the range of activities of Yamaha's Safety Promotion Program (1) has been integrated into a single system based on curriculums developed to reflect the social, transportation and user requirements of each specific region.
Besides the motorcycle riding safety courses, there are also YRA programs in place for ATVs and personal watercraft, with similar curriculums offered in the ASEAN region, Central and South America, the Middle East, Russia and Africa. These efforts provide education in rider safety and awareness in regions that are currently experiencing rapid market expansion.

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Yamaha Safety Riding Science (YSRS) program for the general public

Although the YRA programs are primarily targeted at users of motorcycles, ATVs and personal watercraft, the Yamaha Motor group also provides traffic safety education programs for the general public that contribute to improved traffic safety awareness worldwide. The Yamaha Safety Riding Science (YSRS), promoted in the ASEAN region since 2005, is being taught as part of the school curriculum and the results to date are significant. Based on concepts such as "safe riding is about awareness and communication" and "riding is not about movement or operation, but is an 'intelligent activity'," YSRS uses a scientific approach to deliver these concepts to students. In 2007, 324 courses were held in four countries - Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam - teaching a total of 39,476 students about traffic rules and manners.