Aiming to produce an urgent change of pace in actions in order to reach the objectives defined by the United Nations regarding the 50% reduction in the number of road victims before 2020, the V Ibero-American Road Safety Congress proposed measures for all those areas related to the 5 pillars of the Decade of Action:

• PILLAR 1. Road Safety Manager

• PILLAR 2. Safer Roads and Mobility

• PILLAR 3. Safer Vehicles

• PILLAR 4. Safer Road Users

• PILLAR 5. Post-Crash Response

Acknowledging the importance of all the 5 pillars in the Decade of Action, the V CISEV focused on the safety of vulnerable users; this was in response to the WHO report for the Americas which states that almost half of the road fatalities are represented by users with the lowest levels of protection - motorcyclists, pedestrians and cyclists.

In this regard, the Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez delivered a presentation on its program “Child Restraint Systems Check Up Point”. The program aims to provide free advice to adults in charge of transporting children in their vehicles on the correct installation of the system.

This activity started in 2012 and is carried out by the Fundación´s instructors and technicians trained in child passenger´s safety together with the National Traffic Police. So far more than 1,500 families have been advised on this area.

According to Mathías Silva, Training Coordinator at the Fundación, “the Check Up Point is important since there is a wide variety of CRSs and vehicle anchorages, these two aspects may sometimes add complexity for adults in charge of transporting children, leaving the children vulnerable in the event of a crash”.

Silva highlighted the fact that having a CRS is not enough to guarantee the safe transportation of children in a vehicle. The CRS should be suitable for the child, the vehicle, and should be correctly installed and children should be correctly positioned in the CRS."

The Coordinator has stated that since it first implementation in 2012, the number of people asking for advice at the Check Up Point has constantly increased, doubling in number by 2015, clear evidence of results achieved.

At the closing of the V CISEV the Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez, through its Training Coordinator, Mathías Silva, was awarded the second prize for “Best Free Communication” for the presentation of Check Up Points in Uruguay and for the cultural changes achieved regarding the use of CRSs.