By Wendy Anders

Costa Rica’s Ombudsman’s Office has given the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) a timeline to insure their compliance with across-the-board road safety educational programs in all of the country’s schools, from pre-school on up, said the Defensoría de Los Habitantes this week (The Defender of the Inhabitants or National Ombudsman’s Office).

The country’s traffic and road safety laws establish in Article 217 that road safety education is required in all public pre-school, primary, secondary, and professional or vocational schools. The law has been in effect since 2012. The goal is to reduce accidents and mortality on the country’s roads through effective education.

Traffic-related accidents are a major cause of death in the country, and the leading cause of violent deaths, and as such have been categorized as a public health problem in Costa Rica. According to official data, in 2014 a total of 682 traffic-related deaths were reported, a figure that increased significantly in 2015 when there were 795 such fatalities.

Although the Ombudsman’s Office has found that the MEP has made some progress in implementing the required subject, there is much work to be done, said the office.

The MEP is also required to offer driver education classes for 10th-12th graders in coordination with the General Direction of Road Education and the National Road Safety Council, as part of the requirements for obtaining a driver’s license, said the Ombudsman’s Office.

The Ombudsman said that currently there is no evidence that the MEP is offering these subjects throughout the country, though they have done teacher trainings and a series of workshops on road safety.

The MEP has been directed to develop a plan for the implementation of the road safety educational program for various student levels in schools across the country, said the Ombudsman’s office.

In addition, the Ombudsman requested that the MEP, together with road safety officials, take the necessary actions to develop and execute as soon as possible the upper level course that is a requisite for a driver’s license.

The classes should be ready by the second half of this year, due to the fact that the MEP is still in the planning phase with the road safety program.

The Ombudsman’s Office considers this situation urgent, as not only does existing legislation require education in road safety to start in early years and continue throughout students’ education, but the growing number of fatal accidents means that efforts to improve road safety need to be redoubled.