12/06/2023

Jalisco and Uruguay initiate road safety project

With the official visit of officials from the government of Uruguay and the Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez, the project for the exchange of successful experiences in road safety was formally launched as a result of a collaboration agreement on road safety signed within the framework of cooperation between the Government of Jalisco and the South American country.

The formal work derived from this agreement began with a meeting at the facilities of the Ministry of Transportation (SETRAN) and will continue with visits to the institutions to be involved and will lay the groundwork for the training of personnel who will follow up on the project.

Through this agreement, which was announced in September last year and in which the Gonzalo Rodriguez Foundation and the National Road Safety Unit of Uruguay (UNASEV) participate, and for Mexico, the Ministry of Transportation of the State of Jalisco, the latter will share its experience in the confirmation of a system of accident data, as well as its knowledge in the development of the project, The latter will share its experience in the development of the Accident Rate Map as a tool that makes the critical points in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area visible at a geographic level, while Uruguay will share its recommendations for safe mobility in school environments.
 
The project, called "Bases for Integrated Road Safety Management," was the winner of an international competition in which only 9 out of 105 participants were selected.

María José Pessano, executive director of the Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez, stated that "this is the first mobility project that integrates international cooperation from Uruguay to another country, so this collaboration and the results derived from it through an exchange of good practices, which in her case is linked to working with children and adolescents and road safety considering schools as the center of the safe system, are of utmost importance."

The Uruguayan delegation was completed by Martín Scanarotti, representative of UNASEV; from the organized civil society, Débora Semadeni, representative of the association "Por Amor Abróchalos" and Sonia Aguilar, Safety Manager of WRI Mexico participated in the meeting; as well as, from the private sector, Mauricio García, Manager for Latin America of the School Zones Initiative of the Global Company 3M.

On the public sector side were the Urban Development Attorney, Carlos Romero Sánchez; Mitzi Valeria Ramos, Follow-up Coordinator of the General Coordination of Territorial Management; Rodrigo Guerrero Maldonado, Director of Metropolitan Works Maintenance of SIOP; and finally, Saúl Alveano, General Director of Road Safety and Bernardo Santana, General Director of School Transportation, both from Setran.

As part of the implementation of evidence-based policies for child road safety, in addition to the technical assistance provided by the Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez on safe school environments, UNASEV will also share its experience in addressing safe mobility for early childhood, from the regulatory and control framework.

On the Jalisco side, SETRAN will transfer its Accident Map methodology to Uruguay, a multi-sectoral tool that homologates, integrates and validates relevant information from different public entities, in addition to providing periodic information on critical points, as well as the implementation of the Mobility and Road Safety Law, which raised the right to safe mobility to constitutional rank.

The technical exchange between both nations is in accordance with the standards established by the international community for the comprehensive management of road safety and in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations for the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), regarding the 2030 Agenda.