FIA Region IV President Jorge Tomasi today said the region has enjoyed a successful year in which road safety continued to be the main priority.

“We have been focusing on road safety, particularly the safety of kids,” he said. “On that aspect we are collecting information from the region’s clubs on the situation with regard to regulations governing children’s car seats and at the same time we are talking to Latin American governments to create new laws relating to the level of implementation on this matter.”

Mr Tomasi added that the region’s clubs also serve as a platform for the promotion of the work of agencies such as Latin NCAP and iRap.

“We are promoting iRAP studies in a number of countries and trying to get local governments to take into account the recommendations  of these studies. Around 160,000 kms of road have been evaluated in Latin America and we are encouraging governments to pay attention to the recommendations made by iRap.

“For us a matter of great import is also the creation of a database for Latin America relating to Road Safety in each country and in that regard, Region IV has the advantage of being able to work alongside OISEVI (the Ibero-American Road Safety American Observatory). It is important that each government has the opportunity to manage its territory’s information but also to have a central database so we can develop better strategies based on proper information.”

Looking ahead, President Tomasi said key targets for 2016 include promoting the Save Kids’ Lives initiative, continued engagement with the FIA University and expanding the FIA Driver Certification programme.