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International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion
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Road safety impacts of the motorcycle in Brazil
Eduardo Alcântara de Vasconcellos
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Instituto Movimento, Rua República do Iraque 1605, ZIP 04611-003, São Paulo, Brazil

Version of record first published: 04 Jul 2012

To cite this article: Eduardo Alcântara de Vasconcellos (2012): Road safety impacts of the motorcycle in Brazil,International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion, DOI:10.1080/17457300.2012.696663 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17457300.2012.696663

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International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion 2012, 1–8, iFirst article

Road safety impacts of the motorcycle in Brazil
Eduardo Alcantara deVasconcellos* ˆ
Instituto Movimento, Rua Repu´blica do Iraque 1605, ZIP 04611-003, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil (Received 16 March 2012; final version received 16 May 2012) 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 todiminish, 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 deathsassociated 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 newtechnology. 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

Downloaded by [Eduardo Vasconcellos] at 13:12 06 July 2012

1.

The expansion of motorcycleuse in Brazil

The automobile industry was established in Brazil in 1956 and is currently one of the largest in the world with production of 3 million vehicles in 2007, the majority of which (80%) were automobiles. Motorcycles were not economically relevant until the 1990s, when processes of liberalisation and privatisation were initiated. In 1990, Brazil had 20.6 million vehicles on the road...