Introduction:
Road traffic injuries are a significant public health problem in Romania, and children are a vulnerable population for death and disabilities caused by road traffic injuries. Research conducted in Cluj-Napoca showed that only half of children travelling by car were properly restrained and, children are less likely to travel properly restrained as they grow older (Dulf et al, 2020). Using this evidence, a multi-sectorial initiative started in 2018, with the primary scope of improving child car passenger safety and promoting appropriate use of child restraints.

Objectives:
The multi-sectorial initiative focused on three main pillars: secure police enforcement, build commitment from the city-hall to support car seat programs for vulnerable groups and increase awareness and knowledge among parents of children older than

Methods:
The project was funded by the Botnar Child Road Safety Challenge in yearly funding cycles since 2018 and will continue to be supported by the end of 2023. The project is implemented by a multi-disciplinary team of experts in the field of child safety, run by the White Cross Foundation in Romania, and endorsed by a team of advisors from the Global Road Safety Partnership. The yearly proposal and monitoring and evaluation plans are followed-up to accomplish the planned objectives.

Results:
A total of 30 police officers were trained to conduct enforcement on child restraint systems, more than 10 police officers were trained to increase road safety leadership, a multi-sectorial action group was established with the support of City-hall and Road Traffic Police and a raising awareness campaign promoting appropriate use of car seats through all types of media was launched. FCA/Copil iubit la bord have amassed 16K followers on Facebook building a strong community on the topic and the first app in Europe, Child Car Safety App, to increase child car safety by supporting parents to appropriately restrain children when traveling by car were part of the raising awareness campaign.

Conclusions:
The multi-sectorial initiative to increase child passenger safety in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (Copil Iubit la Bord/Loved Child on Board) is an example of committed partnerships for engagement at local administration levels- both city hall and police leadership – which support the non-governmental institutions and academia to implement evidence-based programs and policies in the field on injury prevention and safety promotion.

Keywords: road traffic safety, multi-sectorial engagement, priority-setting, awareness.

Other info: Erika Baragan, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Political, Administrative, Communication Sciences, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Atsani Ariobowo, Global Road Safety Partnership, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, Switzerland Ramona Brad, White Cross Foundation, Bucharest, Romania Ana Măiță, White Cross Foundation, Bucharest, Romania