AASI- A short History

The century old Automobile Association of Southern India initially was conceived as ‘a self help Association’ in 1904 in Nilgiris by the few owners of Motor Vehicles. Those were the days when Automobile was considered as a ‘Marvel’ and the owners were prestigious few.

In the same year of 1904 in the then Madras (Now Chennai) an Association called ‘South India Motor Union’ was also formed by the Madras car owners.

In 1906 the Nilgiris Association got merged with ‘South India Motor Union’ and had totally 67 members. In 1911 the ‘South India Motor Union’ was incorporated under the Indian Companies Act.

It was in 1930 this was christened as ‘Automobile Association of Southern India’.

The Federation of Indian Automobile Associations of South, East, West and Upper India and Uttar Pradesh was born in 1953.

The Automobile Association of Southern India became a member in the Alliance Internationale De Tourisme known as AIT in 1934.

The Governors of Southern states were the respective patrons of the Association.

The services offered by the Association have also been changing along with the times. During the initial formative years prevention of breakdowns by employing people to pick up ‘bullock shoes’ and attending of breakdowns by mechanics in three wheelers was the main services offered.

Later the services relating to Motor Transport Vehicle Regulatory Authority, presently known as Transport Commissioner like issue of Motor Vehicle Tax Tokens, Driving licence issue and renewal etc. were offered.

Since the road net work was scanty in those days the Touring Itinerary Service which gave full description of the type of road, landmarks, availabilities of Petrol bunks, Rest houses etc. was the most availed service.

When the vehicle population exploded in the 21 st century and when roads and other infrastructures were developed, Road Safety became the dominant issue since road accidents were alarmingly increasing.

In view of this, the Association amended it’s article in 1996 to make Road safety as one of its primary objective and has been innovating ways to promote the message of road safety through education and propagation of self discipline.

Through the institution of ‘Good Samaritan Award’ honouring the person who rushes accident victims to the hospital in the Golden hour, the Association is trying to encourage people who render such help. Ever since the institution of this award in 1996, the type of persons who had secured this award varied from student to businessman, agriculturist to educationist, constable to official, the common thread in this being considerate and helpful in time of great need.

The Association has now 8 branches and forty thousand members.

In recent times it stepped up it’s awareness campaign from that of distributing pamphlets on road safety to that of educating on defensive driving through Simulator and production of films on Road safety. In this the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) had been of great help in giving grant for the production of these films.

Administered and Managed by a Board consisting of very experienced Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer and 6 other members, the Association has a full time Secretary cum CEO.