09/03/2022

FISEVI - Colombia Chapter

FISEVI is an itinerant forum, whose objective is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, experiences and good practices for the development of road safety management in different areas of action, from the creation and implementation of public policies to actions led by civil society organizations and/or private institutions. The previous editions of FISEVI, the most important in Latin America and the Caribbean, were held in Uruguay 2014, Chile 2016 and Argentina 2018; leaving excellent results and articulated work with the governments of those countries, aimed at protecting the lives of children on the roads.

The fourth edition of FISEVI, which brings together more than 1,200 attendees in person and virtual, and is hosted by the government of Colombia, will be attended by more than 60 experts from 12 countries, who will share, for three days, experiences and good practices, with the aim of leaving the knowledge installed in the country and actively work to eliminate deaths and serious injuries to children in traffic.


In Colombia, according to figures from the Observatory of the National Road Safety Agency, 471 minors died in road crashes in 2021, which represents an increase of 5% compared to the average of 2017 - 2020.

"We work with the governments of different Latin American countries and for the realization of FISEVI we chose those in which we noticed commitment to work on this issue, because the need is very great. That is why we are in Colombia, because there is political will to work on child road safety. What we want is to generate public policies in a transversal way in all the government entities that can interact, and try a more holistic approach, which not only looks at the child as a passenger, but also looks at infrastructure, hospital care, the rights of minors, regulations, safety elements, education and control", said María Fernanda Rodríguez, founder and president of the Foundation.

For her part, the Minister of Transportation, Ángela María Orozco, said that "we have worked in the last three and a half years to leave a Road Safety plan for the next 10 years, based on advanced international guidelines to guarantee safe mobility not only for children and adolescents but for all Colombians. Road safety is a collective construction, of road actors, the transport sector, unions, companies, educational institutions, and for this reason we are gathered here working together to save lives on the roads, this time of the most vulnerable at the time of an accident".

The inaugural ceremony of FISEVI was attended by the First Lady of the Nation, María Juliana Ruíz; the Minister of Transportation, Ángela María Orozco; the president of the Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez, María Fernanda Rodríguez; the general director of the National Road Safety Agency, Luis Lota; the representative of PAHO/WHO Colombia, Gina Tambini; and the official United Nations ambassador for road safety, Jean Todt.

"We are very happy to welcome in Colombia a new chapter of the International Forum on Child Road Safety - FISEVI. This Forum reflects the commitment not only of the National Road Safety Agency but of the entire transport sector to work together and articulate all the different actors in a comprehensive vision of road safety. This meeting is evidence of Colombia's progress towards the safe system vision, which includes road safety from different components such as infrastructure, speed management, type of vehicles and the behavior of the road actor," said Luis Lota, general director of the National Road Safety Agency.

FISEVI is also configured as a peak moment in the commitment of the government of Iván Duque for the protection of children and adolescents; and reaffirms the actions that have been advanced since its inception as the signing of the National Pact for Child Road Safety signed in 2019 by the Ministries of Transport, Education, the ANSV and the United Nations.