Situation
The number of people killed as a result of road traffic crashes is unacceptably high in Brazil, with over 42,000* deaths every year. In fact, Brazil experiences one of the highest fatality rates in the world.
Car occupants and motorcycle riders represent just over 50%* of all road deaths, with 82%* of fatalities being male. Although national drink-driving laws, legislation of mobile phone use while driving and mandated helmet standards have been implemented, enforcement is only moderate.
The overall rate of road traffic crashes indicates a continued increase, despite an aggressive commitment by the country to reduce the number of road fatalities per capita.
(*WHO 2015)
GRSP activities
Activities
Advocacy:
Supporting advocacy for implementation of helmet quality standards and motorcycle helmet wearing enforcement.
Capacity building:
Safer City Roads/PPS: Macae, Vila Velha, Porto Feliz, Guaiba. Delivery of a road safety Master Class in Sao Paulo and Fortaleza. Review and renew enforcment enforcment training curricula.
Road policing:
Strengthening road policing in Fortaleza, Sao Paulo to enforce speeding, drink driving and helmet wearing.
Programmes
Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS)
The programme works with countries at the national level to strengthen road safety legislation, and with cities at the city level to implement proven road safety interventions.
The Safer City Roads programme incorporates the Proactive Partnership Strategy (PPS) methodology, developed by the Global Road Safety Partnership since 2002. It is a road safety strategy created specifically for use in Communities – cities, towns, municipalities – and it is based on sustainable partnerships between Government, Business and Civil Society in the town.
Global Road Safety Initiative (GRSI)
The Global Road Safety Initiative (GRSI) was one of the world’s largest joint commitments of private sector resources toward road safety in low- and middle-income countries. The Initiative is now closed, however implementations of programmes developed through the initiative such as Safe to School – Safe to Home in Vietnam and China are still in operation under local authorities and the methodology has been embedded into curriculum.
Road user groups
Risk factors
Member Collaboration
IFRC engagement
| Website | Carrying out RS activites | Interested in expanding RS work |
| Brazil Red Cross | Yes | Yes |
National laws
Lead agency: National Traffic Department
Speed limit law
Motorcycle helmet law
Child restraint law
Drug-driving law
Drink-driving law
Seat-belt law
Mobile phones while driving law
Crash data
Annual road fatalities
46,935
Fatalities per 100K pop. per year
23.4
Population
200,361,925
Estimated GDP loss
1.2%
Registered vehicles
81,600,729
Income group
Upper-middle*
Source: WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015
*World Bank
Brazil news
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