In 2017, the Automobile Club of Colombia launched the “To school by bike” project together with the Mobility Secretariat of the city of Bogotá and with the support of the FIA Road Safety Grant Programme, to promote cycling as a sustainable mean of transport and ensure safe journeys to schools.

In this framework, representatives from the FIA Foundation, the AIP Foundation and the FIA Mobility Secretariat, visited the Club for a three-day workshop in Bogotá (September 10-13), on the topic of helmet observation.

This training was conducted by project evaluation experts from the AIP Foundation for members of the ACC and the Mobility Secretariat of the city of Bogotá. The AIP Foundation has used the helmet observation methodology as an evaluation tool to monitor an increase/decrease in the helmet wearing rate in road safety interventions in Cambodia and Vietnam for a few years now.

Four members of the ACC and four members of the Mobility Secretariat of the city Bogotá, working jointly, have benefited from this training and will be able to replicate the methodology for future programmes.

More than 250 helmets have already been offered to children going to school by bike with ACC and the Mobility Secretariat of the city of Bogotá now having the capacity to measure the impact resulting from this distribution.

As a part of the helmet donation project, to assess the effectiveness of the programme, a helmet observation study is undertaken in a three-stage process:

1. Pre-helmet distribution observation
2. Helmet distribution, which forms the core deliverable of the programme
3. Post-helmet distribution observation after 1-2 school days to assess the immediate impact of the helmet distribution programme

To assess the sustainability of the impact of the helmet distribution programme, two further rounds of post-observation need to be conducted: 10-12 weeks after the helmet distribution and by the end of the school year.

In cooperation with the National Road Safety Agency (the ANSV), and the Transit Authority of Bucaramanga, the AAC will distribute an additional 300 helmets in selected schools in the upcoming weeks. According to Ricardo Galindo Bueno, Director of the ANSV, it is crucial to promote safe and responsible behaviour on the road.

Capacity building, mobilising local actions and global advocacy efforts are core to the FIA Road Safety Grant Programme. It is encouraging to see that FIA Members and local authorities are involved to improve traffic systems, especially for the protection of children, the most vulnerable category of road users.

For more information about the FIA Road Safety Grant Programme click here