Within this context, María Fernanda Rodríguez presented a study by Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez on child occupant safety both in private and school vehicles.

She thanked the FIA Foundation for its contribution in these two years that made it possible to promote the need for safe vehicles and measures for the use of child restraint systems in Latin America and the Caribbean.

After contributing to the passing of an act that makes the use of child restraint systems mandatory for children under 12 in private cars (the same as in developed countries), Rodríguez pointed out that in 2016 the Fundación had focused on the act´s effective implementation.

In order to promote the correct implementation of regulations, the Fundación provided training on child safety to more than 50% of traffic officers in the capital, and it also worked with the media to demand enforcement at national level.

She also explained that technicians from the Fundación provided free advice to 1390 families about the correct installation of Child Restraint Systems at the Check Up Point in the Automobile Club of Uruguay facilities.

An Android app was developed to improve management; this app allows users a range of activities, from booking a place to process relevant data.

Regarding work in the region, also together with FIA Foundation, "we started working on aspects related to the child passenger, and during 9 years we have witnessed constant progress taking place in Uruguay and in the other LAC countries where our work has been replicated, e.g. Argentina, Chile, Colombia. Other countries, such as Paraguay, Costa Rica and Ecuador will show progress in the future”.

Rodríguez stated that “the developed countries are already discussing the Safe System Approach”, and as a partner representing Latin America, she said: “We want Latin America to follow that path, we don´t want this approach to take 20 years to get to us, when we are talking about protecting children”.

She concluded saying: “It is now the time to take one step further and address child mobility from different points of view, such as school environment and mobility on motorcycles".

At the end of the meeting held on February 28 in the outskirts of London, members of the initiative identified gaps and opportunities for research and push these topics up the political agenda.