Traffic accidents have become so frequent that it's difficult to find someone who has never been involved in even a minor collision. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), 1.25 million people die each year worldwide as victims of traffic accidents. According to a ranking compiled by the WHO in 2013, traffic in Brazil is the 56th most dangerous in the world. Therefore, we must be increasingly attentive when driving our vehicles.

According to the Violence Map from the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies, in 2012 there was one death due to a traffic accident every 12 minutes, totaling more than 40,000 deaths in the country. Of the total fatalities, 401 were motorcyclists, 251 were pedestrians or cyclists, 181 were car, bus, or truck drivers, and 171 were passengers. The fact that motorcycles lead this ranking is due to the extremely high vulnerability of motorcyclists. Motorcycles travel at practically the same speed as cars, but with the difference that in cars, drivers are protected by the entire vehicle structure, airbags, seat belts, etc. Motorcycles, however, lack these features, leaving motorcyclists very vulnerable in any type of accident.

Some point to potholed roads, lack of bike lanes, poor signage, or cars without safety systems as the cause. However, the only point that the WHO considers inadequate in Brazil is that in some large cities there are urban roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h (while the WHO recommends a maximum speed of 50 km/h on urban roads). Therefore, the biggest problem is not in our infrastructure, but in the drivers. According to the National Road Safety Observatory, 981,300 accidents are caused by human error, as detailed in the infographic below.

The high percentage of accidents caused by human error is explained by a recent study from the Center for Applied Legal Research at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, which states that 821% of Brazilians find it easy to disobey the laws in the country.

The conclusion we can draw from these numbers is that Brazilian traffic is extremely dangerous, and those responsible (and irresponsible) for the vast majority of fatalities are the drivers themselves. Since a large portion of Brazilians find it easy to disobey the law, efficient enforcement should lead drivers to abandon risky behaviors until responsible conduct becomes automatic. This happened with seatbelts, which required fines or extremely irritating warnings for lack of use in more modern vehicles for their use to become routine for drivers, thus reinforcing everyone's safety.