Citation

Jose Silveira A. Proc. Road Saf. Four Continents Conf. 2010; 15: 1057-1070.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Conference Sponsor)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

Traffic safety is a matter and a primary responsibility of the Government (besides being the responsibility of each individual citizen). When the Government does not fulfill that responsibility, many citizens feel powerless and, at the same time, want to contribute solutions to put order in traffic, to help increase traffic safety and decrease the number of fatalities and injuries. But they do not trust to be able to make important contributions because, in general, everybody thinks that traffic safety is, basically, a Government job. The purpose of this presentation is to share the contributions for the increase of traffic safety made by an NGO working for almost 20 years in a developing country, Argentina, in which, like in most of these cases, authorities do very little about this subject. Our purpose is to encourage and motivate all individuals and the NGOs interested in traffic safety to renew their efforts to reach significant goals in traffic safety with the experience of Luchemos por la vida as a starting point. Starting from zero, with very little resources and the help of a few enthusiastic volunteers, we developed a multiple-approach plan aimed at the individual "in the community" to generate a social change of attitudes towards traffic accidents and behavior on the streets, and a better awareness about traffic as a system in order to provoke changes in the system of individual beliefs and attitudes. To do this, we decided to influence public opinion with a view to generating spaces of reflection and self-examination, and of social debate regarding the problem of accidents and its relationship with individual and social behaviors of all citizens, in general, and authorities, in particular. With this in view, we decided to privilege work among: mass media, government and traffic safety education. Some of our accomplishments are:o Creating and maintaining a permanent traffic safety teaching and awareness campaign on the main TV and radio media of our country for over 18 years, to this day.o Promoting laws for greater traffic safety.o Demanding their effective enforcement by means of effective controls and punishment.o Promoting the inclusion of crimes against traffic safety in the Crime Code.o Producing educational materials such as the educational video "Keys to Safe Driving", specially produced to help create awareness and educate drivers, mainly those who are requesting or renewing their driving licenses. This video is available in Spanish or English (dubbed) for free to all driving license granting centers.o Luchemos por la Vida magazine.o A wide web page in Spanish and English with lots of information and opportunities for involvement.o Ongoing communication and interaction with the media.o The annual Luchemos por la Vida Awards.o A National Traffic Safety Education Plan called "Schools for Life," aimed at students of elementary and high schools.One of the most important results of these actions was to have made traffic safety a concern for all of society and, especially, for politicians, who have been forced to include it in their agendas.