The objective of the ‘Virtual Training Course on Traffic Safety’ was to develop and implement an initiative that would address transit safety in scholarly circles by providing support and resources to teachers and working with the educational community. Through the course, 73 teachers and 11 directors were trained, thereby benefitting more than 3700 students. At the end of the course, the teachers were able to develop lessons to provide knowledge and skills to their students so that they could protect themselves in transit, regardless of what method of transport they were using.

The course ‘The Role of Physical Education in Teaching Transit Safety,’ was based off of a similar approach to the aforementioned courses. 25 teachers were trained, thus impacting over 5000 students.

As for the ‘Safe Travel’ workshops, the Foundation sought to work directly with key players in public education centers. Based on the document ‘Advances in Transit Safety in Latin America and the Caribbean,’ it was considered vital to work directly with students from an early age, using games as a teaching tool. These workshops were executed in 54 schools in Canelones and Montevideo, impacting 15,000 students.

The Foundation plans to expand these programs in 2020, using the virtual course to train 300 new teachers all over the country, and reaching 100 more physical education teachers in 2 other states with the other course.

About the ‘Latin American Children Safe in Transit’ Program

This program, launched at the beginning of 2017, has been carried out in three phases: research, advocacy and education.

In the research phase, the report ‘The transportation of children to school and the safety of school surroundings’ was developed after the Foundation gathered information on how students get to school and did an observational study on child pedestrians around schools and the risks they face.

In the advocacy phase, the public wellness campaign ‘This year will be different’ identified and attempted to change incorrect behavior in transit and also worked with local governments to improve the safety infrastructure around schools.