Last Month, August, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt met up with some of our youth leaders from Latin America to talk about some of the most pressing road safety issues young people face. He met with Aldo González Barrera and Ana Ródriguez from Mexico, Laura Daniela Gómez from Colombia, and Cecilia Morales from Guatemala.
The first stop was in Mexico where Aldo and Ana asked for support from local federal authorities, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing road safety actions around schools with the support of young people. They also discussed the current situation in Mexico brought on by the Mobility and Road Safety Law.
Also making their way into the discussion are the youth-led efforts Aldo and Ana have taken part in through Liga Peatonal and the Youth Coalition’s Local Actions initiative. They talked about how the work they take part in is usually done as volunteers, promoting advocacy processes. Aldo and Ana also promoted our recently published Policymakers’ Toolkit.
Following the trip to Mexico, Jean Todt came to Colombia and met with one of our Youth Leadership Board Members, Daniela. During their meeting, Dani asked for support in engaging the new Minister to commit to the targets of the UN Agenda, the Stockholm Declaration for Road Safety, and the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. She also insisted on strengthening efforts to meaningfully engage with youth on matters around road safety at both global and local levels.
Responding to the discussion, Jean Todt shared; “meaningful youth participation involves having periodical opportunities to discuss our ideas with the decision-makers, and also have access to resources that enable us to materialize our ideas into actions”
Our last youth leaders Jean Todt met during the trip was Cecilia from Guatemala. Cecilia shared that “as a member of the World Youth Coalition for Road Safety, you recognize the importance of empowering young people and involving them in a meaningful way in decision-making processes. We, as young people and as part of the citizenry, do not give up”
Jean Todt traveled to Latin America to promote and gather support for more financial and political investment in road safety with the World Bank and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
The Latin American region has twice as many cases of fatal accidents compared to Europe.
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