Road safety impacts of the motorcycle in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil has had high indices of traffic injuries and deaths since the 1950s, mostly related to the increasing and irresponsible use of the automobile. Upon approval of the Brazilian Transit Code (CTB) in 1997, traffic injuries and deaths began to diminish, despite an increase in vehicle fleet size, a phenomenon that had never occurred previously. Concurrently, starting in 1991 and with a great intensity after 1996, there has been a sizeable increase in motorcycle production and use, facilitated and encouraged by public officials. Between 1995 and 2000 annual sales figures for motorcycles doubled and reached 2 million units in 2008. Traffic deaths associated with motorcycles increased exponentially, rising from 725 in 2006 to 10,143 in 2010, eliminating the advances gained by the CTB in reducing auto-related injuries. This article analyses the process and its impacts on road safety. The first part summarises the main public policy decisions related to the theme. Part two analyses changes in traffic safety after the introduction of this new technology. Part three looks at the possible political, economic and social motives that lie behind this process. The final part suggests solutions to the great prejudice caused to society and the nation.

Keywords:

• transport in developing countries
• motorcycles
• transport technology and risk
• traffic safety

Acknowledgments

This article was originally part of a larger study on transportation policy in Brazil, undertaken by Instituto Movimento with support from the Volvo Educational Foundations.

Notes

1. Considering an average fleet during the period of 3.7 million motorcycles at an average value of R$5330 for a new motorcycle.

2. The São Paulo Metro, considered by the majority of its users (as well as in the international technical community) as having high quality, has displayed advertising for purchasing motorcycles inside its stations for a long time. Initially this was in the form of pamphlets advertising the advantages of the motorcycle (‘buy a motorcycle for less than R$2 a day and you would already be in your “home” station’). The opening of space evolved in 2007 to the point where they allowed stands with motorcycles and salespeople inside Paraiso metro station. Urban bus companies also use the resource of motorcycle (and car) advertisements as a form of raising more resources.

3. The most relevant case in recent history of the consumer society is that of the tobacco industry, which fought for decades against attempts to make it responsible for warning consumers about the dangers of their product to human health.