15/10/2019

Developing road safety knowledge

In this sense, between April and May, he held meetings with the pre-candidates to the presidency of the Republic to present the situation of the country, the costs -economic and social- of the number of deaths and injuries in traffic accidents, and to show the best solutions to this problem so that they could integrate it into their government programs. In May, commemorating the month of road safety, the Foundation carried out an urban intervention in Independence Square, in order to represent the 528 deaths and to demand a State policy to reverse the situation.

The visit of Fred Wegman, professor emeritus of the University of Delf and one of the creators of the Safe Systems paradigm, to Uruguay, was part of this context. The objective was to learn about the national reality and present good practices when working to eliminate deaths and serious injuries in traffic accidents.

During his visit, the "High Level Discussion Panel on Road Safety" was held, where the main issues related to road safety and recommendations to reduce the accident rate in our country were presented. The panel included representatives from the Road Safety Unit; the Ministry of Public Health; the Congress of Mayors; the Montevideo City Hall; the National Traffic Police; Maria Fernanda Rodriguez, president of the Gonzalo Rodriguez Foundation; and Morgan Doyle, IDB Representative in Uruguay.

Similarly, the workshop "Improving mobility on urban roads" was held, where decision-makers involved in road safety received training from Jacobo Díaz Pineda and Elena de la Peña, general director and technical deputy general director of the Spanish Road Association, respectively. The attendees were trained on the challenges of road safety, the safe integration of cyclists in cities, and the importance of traffic to make cities "more friendly" to citizens.

Finally, last Thursday, October 10th, the Gonzalo Rodríguez Foundation, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank, held a training workshop for journalists on Road Safety.

Twenty journalists from all over the country and from different types of media (press, radio, television, and web) participated in the workshop, which was moderated by journalist Mauricio Almada, with special guest Alberto Escobar, manager of mobility and public policy at the Automobile Club de Chile. During the workshop, the work that the Automobile Club of Chile has developed in promoting better road safety practices was presented, especially with the work with the press, and how the approach has been modified from the media to traffic accidents.