Brazil

Traffic safety is an extremely important issue for Brazil, where traffic accidents claim more than 34,000 lives and leave more than 300,000 people injured each year. Of those injured, 90,000 to 120,000 are left permanently disabled in some way. In some urban areas, around 80% of the victims are pedestrians. These statistics put the country’s roads amongst the most dangerous in the world, having serious economic and social consequences. They also largely affect Brazil’s image, and consequently have a negative impact on tourism, especially in the southern states bordering Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Congestion is also a burden to the major cities such as São Paulo, Latin America’s second largest city. Sao Paulo's problems are enhanced by poor infrastructure design, very low petrol prices and inefficient vehicles. Government initiatives to improve environmental conditions in São Paulo include plans for an orbital motorway (expected to reduce city traffic by 20%), additional metro lines, and improvements to the rail system. It is estimated that the city loses 316 million labour hours annually because of severe congestion.

If all large and medium Brazilian cities are taken into account, the economic losses resulting from traffic congestion amount to several billion euros annually. Rio de Janeiro also faces major problems related to congestion and the 2007 Pan American Games it will host will be a good opportunity to test and showcase new technologies and solutions.

SIMBA will coordinate the European and Brazilian expertise and propose solutions for improved mobility and road safety in Brazil’s the major cities.