According to the estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.3 million people die every year in traffic and, until 2030, this number may get to 2.4 million. In order to change it, the Institute for Health Scientific and Technologic Communication and Information (Icict) develops the project “Road Safety in 10 Countries (RS 10)”, supported by Fiotec. The goal is to reduce, by 10% every year, the rate of serious victims and deaths in traffic accidents. In addition to the Ministry of Health, the project counts on the coordination of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and of the Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The following countries were selected for the project implementation: Russia, Turkey, China, Egypt, India, Cambodia, Quenia, Mexico and Vietnam. In Brazil, the cities chosen were Teresina (PI), Palmas (TO), Campo Grande (MS), Belo Horizonte (MG) and Curitiba (PR). This selection considered, among others, the following criteria: high quantity of victims with serious injuries and deaths in urban roads, risk factors like alcohol consumption before driving and poor urban infrastructure, including the lack of pedestrian crossing.

The efforts are divided in two stages. The first, concluded in 2012, the targets were defined, the Action Plan was created, and partnerships for reverting the rate of serious victims and deaths in accidents were sought. During the second stage, which is ongoing and is estimated to be concluded in 2015, the capitals participant are to exercise traffic-related experiences, in a way that other Brazilian cities can reproduce them in their daily routine. Lots of initiatives were performed since 2010, when the project started, including blitzes, educative and preventive campaigns, events etc.

Research

For optimizing the coverage of data about mortality related to the traffic in Brazil, an active search for deaths occurred in 2012 will be performed as well, for finding both the death certificates issued and not informed to the Mortality Data System (SIM), and the deaths without such certificates. The sources used are: registry offices, official and not official cemeteries, funeral companies, health establishments, community leaders, Institute of Forensic Medicine and other entities.

History

The ten countries part of the project, which in Brazil is named “Pesquisa de busca de óbitos direcionados e Vida no Trânsito”, were chosen among the 178 participants of the Global Road Safety Research, performed in 2008, which resulted in the Global Status Report on Road Safety, published by WHO in 2009. Those countries are responsible for almost health of the deaths resulting from traffic in the world. This is a global effort created with focus on the planning and execution of projects aiming at reducing the high rates of serious injuries and deaths in traffic accidents.

In Brazil, the ministries of Justice and of the Cities, the National Department of Transport and Urban Mobility, Social Communication Department of the Presidency of the Republic and the Federal Highway Police Department are the other project partners.

*With information from the website “Vida no Trânsito” and the Ministry of Health