SR4S Official Global Launch Event Summary

Image credit (above): FIA Foundation

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN: The Star Rating for Schools application was officially launched during the Child Health Initiative ‘This is My Street: Safe and Healthy Journeys for Children and Youth’ Conference.

Ahead of the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm, the Child Health Initiative facilitated the ‘This is My Street’ event to call for urgent road safety action.

The new SR4S Programme was introduced to an audience of 200 participants that have demonstrated significant interest in learning more about the tools or continuing their projects with support from the SR4S tools.

Star Rating for Schools Director, Julio Urzua, iRAP said “Today’s launch is the culmination of seven years of research, development and pilot studies around around the world, where the application has already proven itself impactful in delivering improvements towards road safety. With the support of our NGO Lead Partners, we are ready to roll out SR4S in more than 1,000 schools around the world and anticipate a larger global demand for this life-saving tool. With the support of current and new donors we want to ensure the benefits of the SR4S app can be felt by as many children as possible.”

The SR4S Global Launch included participation from:

• Rock Sherman, Vice President Road Network Europe, FedEx Express (SR4S Founding Sponsor)
• Saul Billingsley, Executive Director of FIA Foundation (SR4S Major Donor)
• Nani Rodriguez, President of Gonzalo Rodriguez Foundation (SR4S Lead Partner)
• Rafaela Machado, Star Rating for Schools Global Programme Coordinator
• Julio Urzua, Regional Director LAC iRAP

Rock Sherman, Vice President Road Network Europe, FedEx Express said: “for school-aged children, with many preventable deaths occurring on a child’s journey to school. We believe this application has an impressive capability to make every child’s journey to school that little bit safer. For that reason, we’re delighted to be able to support iRAP in showcasing the potential of this tool here in Sweden and open up global access to the SR4S application.”

Saul Billingsley, Executive Director of FIA Foundation, said: “iRAP’s SR4S system is a vital tool to make the case for effective infrastructure development, as well as the knowledge and expertise to support simple, easily understood and instantly impactful changes. Every day, millions of children risk their lives on the journey to school, on streets designed to prioritise traffic and speed. There is no time to waste: every child on every journey has the right to be protected and the SR4S system can support those protective measures.”

The global launch also included the release of the new video from FedEx – ‘This App Could Help Save Your Child’s Life’, demonstrating how SR4S can change the reality in school communities around the world. The highlighted example is the successful project conducted by SR4S Lead Partner Gonzalo Rodriguez Foundation in Latin America.

During the ‘This is My Street: Safe and Healthy Journeys for Children and Youth’ Conference, the Child Health Initiative also released a Manifesto ‘These are Our Streets’ at the event, with specific demands to ensure safe, child- and climate- friendly neighbourhoods by 2030.

As road traffic collisions are the leading worldwide cause of death for young people, the manifesto highlights the simple safety measures that can be implemented to create a ‘speed vaccine’. These proven interventions will help reduce death and serious injuries of children around the world.

As well as the launch of the Manifesto 2030, the event programme included the topics; ‘Prioritising adolescents and road traffic injury in the global health and development agenda’ and ‘Being the change we seek – transforming schools and urban streets’.

High profile speakers during the event included:

• Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Chairman, FIA Foundation
• Jean Todt, President of the FIA & UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety
• Zoleka Mandela, Global Ambassador, Child Health Initiative
• Kelly Larson, Global Road Safety Program, Bloomberg Philanthropies
• Stefan Peterson, Chief of Health, UNICEF.

During the SR4S global launch, it was outlined how those who were interested in incorporating SR4S into their road safety programme could do so. Want to get involved? Read the 5 steps below and click here for more information or to register your interest.