car2go To Be First Carsharing Service That Rewards Members For Taking Road Safety Education Courses

car2go also announced it has joined the Road to Zero Coalition, a body composed of private companies, nonprofits, city, state and federal government agencies dedicated to driving traffic deaths down to zero within the next 30 years.

The free online courses, which normally cost up to $49.95 each, focus on road safety and distracted driving. They are provided by the National Safety Council, a nonprofit organization widely recognized as America's leading safety advocate for more than 100 years.

"Although car crashes are 100% preventable, we lost 40,000 people on our roads in 2016," said Deborah Hersman, NSC president and CEO. "NSC is pleased to partner with car2go in our mission to end preventable deaths on our nation's roadways."

"As the world's largest carsharing service, car2go can play a major role in helping to achieve Vision Zero's objective of eliminating road fatalities," said Paul DeLong, CEO of car2go NA. "We are continually enhancing our vehicles with advanced safety features, and we are proud to say that of the 8.75 million trips our North American members took last year, just .01 percent of them involved a road safety incident. Today we take our commitment to road safety a step further with the launch of an innovative new pilot program that provides valuable online road safety courses to our members free-of-charge, and rewards them for strengthening their road safety knowledge."

"We commend car2go for not only working to advance sustainable transportation, but also for making this important commitment to Vision Zero," said Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. "With this pilot program to reward its members who take a road safety course, car2go is sending an important message to the industry and the public that the campaign to save lives and prevent injuries on our streets must be an integral part of the effort to increase mobility in our cities."

The pilot program is expected to begin in the next 30 days with outreach to car2go members chosen at random in car2go's New York and Washington, D.C. locations. The pilot program will enable those members chosen at random to receive car2go drive-time credit for taking NSC-approved online road safety courses. car2go will continually evaluate the success of the pilot with the goal of making it available to more car2go members – and in additional car2go locations – in the coming months.

The launch of car2go's new road safety education pilot program and addition to NSC's Road to Zero Coalition builds upon the service's announced support for "Vision Zero" in March, 2016. Vision Zero is a road safety initiative championed by cities around the world with the goal of totally eliminating road fatalities and serious injuries.

car2go's carsharing network of Mercedes-Benz and smart vehicles feature innovative safety technology that has helped Mercedes-Benz build a strong reputation as a producer of safe, innovative and comfortable vehicles.

In addition to the new road safety course pilot program, car2go does several other things to promote road safety, including:

• Road safety education: car2go leverages its social media channels and the car2go app messaging system to warn of hazardous driving conditions and share road safety best practices, like reminding car2go members about the "three-foot law" to protect cyclists as well as encouraging car2go members to use their opposite hand when exiting a car2go after parking in an on-street spot. These techniques are effective to help protect passing cyclists and encourages sharing the road.
• Zero tolerance for impaired driving: From the beginning, car2go has had a firm zero-tolerance policy against impaired driving. Any car2go member found to be driving impaired will have their membership permanently revoked, and car2go will assist local police in prosecuting for impaired driving.
• Using data for safety: car2go analyzes incident data and member feedback from over 8.75 million trips and 59 million miles U.S. and Canadian car2go members traveled in 2016 to help inform decisions on improving the service.
• One-way carsharing itself: Recent research revealed that one-way carsharing helps to reduce overall traffic congestion. U.C. Berkeley conducted the first ever impact study of one-way carsharing in North American cities, finding that each car2go vehicle removed up to 11 other vehicles from the road as well as up to 14 metric tons of greenhouse gases per car.
• Working with cities: car2go continues to collaborate with city transportation agencies and third party road safety advocacy organizations to advance Vision Zero initiatives.

car2go's flexible, one-way carsharing service operates in the following cities with active Vision Zero programs: Austin; Calgary; Denver; Montreal; New York City; Portland; Seattle; Toronto; Vancouver; and Washington, D.C.

In 2016, car2go grew its global customer base by 43-percent to 2.2 million members, and today the service boasts over 2.3 million members. Every 1.4 seconds, a car2go member takes a trip in a car2go vehicle in one of 26 car2go cities spread across North America, Europe, and Asia.

In 2016, car2go's global network of nearly 14,000 vehicles were rented more than 22 million times, a 21-percent increase compared to 2015. In January, car2go introduced Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA four door vehicles to extend the accessibility of the service to families and groups of friends seeking to travel more places with more cargo.

According to an August 2016 carsharing report¹ by Frost & Sullivan, the global carsharing market is expected to grow from 7.9 million people in 2015 to over 36 million people by 2025.

About car2go N.A., LLC
car2go N.A., LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler North America Corporation, offers an innovative mobility solution in rapidly growing urban areas via a carsharing network of affordable, eco-friendly Mercedes-Benz and smart vehicles. A flexible and "on demand" mode of transportation, car2go complements existing public transportation by bridging the gaps between the "first and last mile" of a member's commute. Today, car2go's global operation is the largest, fastest-growing carsharing program in the world with more than 2.3 million registered members and a fleet of nearly 14,000 vehicles in 26 locations in North America, Europe and Asia.

The innovation and environmental sustainability of car2go have earned international acclaim, including TripAdvisor's 2015 "Travelers' Choice" award, "Best Carshare" from the Vancouver Courier, "2015 Best CarSharing Service" from Best of D.C., "2014 Best CarSharing App" from Best of D.C., recognition from the Austin Chamber of Commerce with the "Greater Austin Business Award" for its positive impact on the city's traffic, and the prestigious "2010 EPA Clean Air Excellence Award" from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Further information on car2go is available at car2go.com/NA/en/press/.

¹ "Future of Carsharing Market to 2025", published August, 2016 by Frost & Sullivan

SOURCE car2go N.A., LLC