Practically 1 in 5 athletes on the Brazilian team who will compete in Rio's Paralympic Games has a disability caused by a chronic Brazilian problem: motor vehicle accidents.

Using data from the BPC (Brazilian Paralympic Committee), the Folha learned that at least 50 para-athletes on the Brazilian team were victims of vehicle collisions or were run over.

This number represents 18% of the team. The data was compiled using information on 282 of the total 287 para-athletes (since Russia was vetoed in the Paralympics, and additional 5 Brazilians were added to the group, and Folha did not have access to information for the athletes who came on last).

	Danilo Verpa/Folhapress
	At least 50 para-athletes on the Brazilian team were victims of vehicle collisions.

Brazil has one of the world's highest rates of automobile accidents and fatalities on streets and sidewalks. The country saw 43,075 traffic deaths in 2014, according to preliminary data from the Unified Health System's IT department.

According to the WHO's (World Health Organization) latest global report, featuring data up to 2013, Brazil was the fourth country in the Americas with more deaths from automobile accidents for every hundred thousand persons (23,4).

Brazil only falls behind Belize, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. In this way, Brazilian Paralympic team represents the pervasiveness of this type of trauma in the country.

If all types of accidents are taken into account, the number rises to 35%. In at least 12 cases, the equivalent of 4%, the cause of the disability was a firearm accident. Another 37 (13%) involves injuries at the workplace, at home or during a leisure activity.

Of the total number of athletes in the Brazilian Paralympic delegation, 38% have congenital disabilities or acquired them after complications at birth.

Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ

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