Skip to main content

Brazil sees major road safety improvement

Brazil is benefiting from a boost in its road safety levels. Official data shows that vehicle crashes accounted for 40,500 fatalities in 2013, a decrease of 10% from the previous year. The figures show that this is the biggest drop in road fatalities since 1998, when the death rate was reduced by 13%. The road safety gain has been achieved largely by much tougher enforcement of existing rules banning drink driving and speeding. Brazil’s road safety levels are not good, with an average of 20 fatalities/100,0
November 14, 2014 Read time: 1 min
Brazil is benefiting from a boost in its road safety levels. Official data shows that vehicle crashes accounted for 40,500 fatalities in 2013, a decrease of 10% from the previous year. The figures show that this is the biggest drop in road fatalities since 1998, when the death rate was reduced by 13%. The road safety gain has been achieved largely by much tougher enforcement of existing rules banning drink driving and speeding. Brazil’s road safety levels are not good, with an average of 20 fatalities/100,000 inhabitants, compared with an average of eight fatalities/100,000 inhabitants for developed countries. However this improvement is a notable gain and has been achieved by a proven approach that has shown similar benefits in France and Portugal in recent years.

Related Content

  • GHSA: Pedestrian deaths fall for second year
    July 18, 2025
    However, despite overall progress in the US, alarming trends continue for hit-and-run incidents, especially at night and in places where there are no sidewalks, according to the GHSA - Governors Highway Safety Association.
  • Road safety stabilises for Germany
    December 15, 2014
    Preliminary data from Germany suggests that there will be little road safety improvement for 2014, compared with the previous year. This follows decreases in crash fatalities in the last two years. According to estimates of the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), key data available for the months from January to September 2014 shows that there will be approximately 3,350 traffic crash fatalities for this year. The figure is broadly similar as for 2013, when there were 3,339 road deaths. This means
  • French road accidents continue to increase
    February 22, 2012
    The latest official data shows that France’s worrying trend for increased road accident levels is continuing.
  • European road deaths reduced but more to be done
    February 15, 2012
    While the EU target of reducing deaths by 50% has resulted in impressive figures, there is still more to be done as Patrick Smith reports. The latest statistics show European Union (EU) efforts to reduce road deaths by 50% have met with considerable success. As EU members look to the new European Action Programme for the period 2010 to 2020