Trends in the number of traffic accident victims on Brazil's federal highways before and after the start of the Decade of Action for Road Safety.

Flávia Reis De Andrade,José Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes

doi:10.1590/0102-311x00250218

Flávia Reis De Andrade, José Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-311x00250218

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Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the trend in the number of fatalities, severe injuries, and minor injuries from traffic accidents on Brazil's federal highways according to the country's major geographic regions before and after the start of the Decade of Action for Road Safety (DARS). This was an interrupted time series study of data on accidents with fatal or injured victims provided by the Brazilian Federal Highway Police from 2007 to 2017. The Prais-Winsten method was used to calculate the monthly percentage change (MPC) in the number of fatalities, severe injuries, and minor injuries. Before the DARS, there was an upward monthly trend in the number of fatalities in these accidents in the country as a whole (MPC 0.71%) and in all five regions, especially in the South (MPC 1.01%) and Central-West (MPC 0.84%). There was an inverse trend after the start of the DARS, with a significant decrease in Brazil as a whole (MPC -1.24%) and in the major geographic regions. For each person that dies in an accident on a federal highway, at least 12 others suffer non-fatal injuries. There was an upward trend in the number of victims with severe injuries (MPC 0.53%) and minor injuries (MPC 0.8%) in Brazil and in the major geographic regions in the period prior to the DARS. After the start of the DARS, there was a significant downward trend in the absolute frequencies of these outcomes at the national and regional levels. In conclusion, before the DARS, there was an upward monthly trend in the number of fatal and injured victims of traffic accidents on Brazil's federal highways. After the start of the DARS, in 2011, there was an inverse trend, namely a decline in these outcomes in the country.

Highlights

In December 1999, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), an official publication of the U
The current study aimed to analyze the trend in the number of fatalities, severe injuries, and minor injuries from traffic accidents on Brazil’s federal highways, according to major geographic regions, before and after the start of the Decade of Action for Road Safety (DARS). This was an interrupted time series (ITS) study, a method usually employed to assess the impact of actions and programs on population outcomes
There was an inverse trend after the start of the DARS, with a significant decrease in Brazil as a whole (MPC -1.24%; 95%CI: -1.46; -1.02) and in all five major geographic regions (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

In December 1999, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), an official publication of the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published a list of the ten greatest public health achievements in United States in the 20th century. The first “automobile” vehicle, the Fardier, was built in 1769 by French military engineer Nicholas Joseph Cugnot, and the inaugural test drive resulted curiously in the “first automobile accident in history” 2. The automobile’s popularity was not to come until 1899, the same year that witnessed the first accident involving two motor vehicles in the United States 2. In the second half of the 20th century, items like safety belts and airbags were gradually incorporated into routine automobile manufacturing, and with the advent of the information age, the computerization of automobiles has been constant

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