Traffic-Related Deaths Have Biggest Drop Since 1998

11/10/2014 - 09h20

Deaths in traffic accidents fell 10% nationwide last year, according to data from the federal government.

The reduction interrupts a sequence of increasing violence in traffic, which lasted for three years, and also represents the most significant drop since 1998, when deaths decreased by 13%.

Nevertheless, the numbers are far from those in developed countries.

Preliminary data from the SUS (Unified Health System) point out that there were 40,500 victims in 2013, compared to 44,800 in the previous year.

The statistic coincides with the first year of the stricter Lei Seca (a zero-tolerance law), which doubled drinking-and-driving fines.

New ways to prove the intake of alcohol, aside from the Breathalyzer, and the easier classification of driving drunk as a crime have also been accepted.

Experts say that the changes in the law had an impact only where supervision was intensified. For them, other factors may also have contributed to the decline in deaths.

José Aurélio Ramalho, president of the National Observatory for Road Safety, cites lower speeds in big cities - caused by the increase in cars and congestion on the road or, to a lesser extent, government action.

"The number of accidents has not decreased. But, if speed drops, there is less risk of death," he says.

Safety items such as airbags and ABS brakes, which have become more common, may also have helped reduce the number of deaths on the road.

Despite the reduction, traffic in Brazil is still very violent. There are 20 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to an average of eight in developed countries.

Even nations in similar economic situations, like Argentina and Russia, have more positive data.

And despite stopping the uptrend, Brazil will have to do more in this area.

In 2011, the country signed a UN resolution to reduce deaths by half by 2020, in the so-called Decade for the Action of Road Safety.

The historic action shows that the number of deaths is directly linked to public road safety policies.

In 1998, with the new Brazilian Traffic Code, the country saw its first significant reduction in deaths, which continued over the next two years, with more surveillance cameras and more supervision.

The number of victims then started increasing again until 2008. The following year, when the first Lei Seca was approved, there was a slight decrease (2%), but the numbers then went back to increasing.

For Luiz Carlos Néspoli, from ANTP (National Association of Public Transport), it is difficult to know what was the leading reason for the reduction of deaths last year.

"We are still without a national policy to reduce accidents, with resources, goals and defined responsibilities," he says.

Motorcyclists are the main victims of traffic accidents, representing nearly a third of deaths.

The SUS data can be updated until June 2015. In recent years, however, revisions have not substantially changed results.

Translated by JILL LANGLOIS

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	Marcos Bezerra/Futura Press/Folhapress
	Deaths in traffic accidents fell 10% nationwide last year, according to data from the federal government