A significant number of children who die in road crashes every year are passengers. We know the use of appropriate child restraint systems can reduce the risk of death for kids in case of a car crash by around 80%. As part of its #3500LIVES Campaign and through its Global Programme for Child Safety, the FIA has committed to raise awareness on the issue.

In Mexico, where car crashes are the number 1 cause of death for 5 to 9 years old, the FIA has dedicated a part of its stand at the 2018 Mexico City E-Prix to the promotion of the systematic use of appropriate child restraint systems.

While visiting the FIA stand, Sébastien Buemi, André Lotterer, Jean-Éric Vergne and Mark Preston talked about the challenge to encourage parents to make sure their children are safe when travelling in a car.

As a father of two, Sébastien Buemi asserted that "child safety seats are the most important element to ensure that a kid travels safely". He then talked about the different types of seat he uses for his own children.

André Lotterer pointed out that we can all contribute to address the challenge of reducing child casualties on the road and reminded that introducing legislation can also play a decisive part. "It is definitely important to be responsible. Making the use of child safety seats compulsory would help a lot to drive that change", he said.

Talking about the motor sport teams' commitment to promote safety, Mark Preston highlighted the fact that, same as for professional drivers, safe and efficient technologies must be used to protect children in the car. "Our drivers are seating in little cocoons and have six-point harnesses. If you put the kids on the normal seats of the car they will fly off in a crash so those seats are a lot more alike our drivers' seat in their race cars and it is easy to find the parallel", he said.

Jean-Éric Vergne also emphasized the fact that motor sport is a catalyst for the development of safety innovations. "There are lot of things that we can learn from our racing cars and safety equipments. There had been a lot of technologies transferred to the cars used daily. I think the FIA and us, as part of a championship, we have a role to play to keep improving safety."

Before leaving the stand, Sébastien Buemi, André Lotterer, Jean-Éric Vergne and Mark Preston took a picture together and inaugurated the special sharing wall of the stand. Tomorrow, when the E-Village will be open to the public, visitors will also be invited to take their picture and support the manifesto for road safety.