29/02/2020

Safe School Environments in Guaymallén, Argentina

The Safe School Environments project, part of the Latin American Children Safe in Traffic program of the Gonzalo Rodríguez Foundation, focuses on the road safety of children in school environments, through the work articulated with local authorities and actors in the areas of legislation, inspection, road safety education for students and teachers, prevention and safe transportation and infrastructure.

The city of Guaymallén in Mendoza is one of the five cities that are part of the Gonzalo Rodríguez Foundation's pilot program in Argentina. Launched in 2017, the programme was kicked off by five schools that had an average of 3.6 stars (using iRAP's Star Rating for Schools tool). After six months of improvement and adaptation work, they all achieved 5 stars, a result that prompted the municipality to extend the programme's reach to all schools in the city.

Today, school environment improvements in the city include 81 schools where 740 pedestrian crossings have been painted, 170 "Slow School" signs and over 1200 speed bumps have been installed, and over 190 parking spaces have been created. The next steps include completing the 200 schools by 2022 and positively impacting more than 25,000 schoolchildren.

"It was an honor to present the achievements of the city of Guaymallén in Stockholm, in such an important forum at a global level, without a doubt the most relevant event and where the strategies and good practices of road safety that are sought to be implemented worldwide are outlined. We are very grateful to the local authorities for the great commitment and place they give to such a vital issue as the safety of our children. It is a real pride to share cases like this that can serve as a guide and inspiration to many other cities in Argentina and around the planet," said Maria Fernanda Rodriguez, President of the Gonzalo Rodriguez Foundation.