Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit Researcher Comments on Road Safety Work in Brazil

Recently, Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit Assistant Scientist Andres I. Vecino-Ortiz was featured on Brazil’s Globo Network in an interview to discuss JH-IIRU work in the country on road safety. The research, which assessed the main road safety risk factors such as drink driving, helmet use, speeding and seat belt use in Sao Paulo, is a part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety.

“It is key to improve speeding enforcement in Sao Paulo as the evidence shows that combined enhanced enforcement and social marketing campaigns are the most effective strategy to reducing speeding, and therefore road traffic injuries,” said Vecino-Ortiz. “Sao Paulo reached the highest prevalence on speeding since the project started after a brief improvement potentially related to city-wide interventions carried out during 2016.”

According to the research, observed prevalence of drunk driving in Sao Paulo has decreased from 4.1 percent to 1.1 percent between rounds 1 and 5 of the study. Additionally, Vecino-Ortiz and his colleagues found that correct helmet use in Sao Paulo is 99 percent and while front seat belt use in the city is very high, at 92 percent, use of seatbelts is relatively lower in adults (78 percent) and use of child restraints is much lower (around 40 percent).

Sao Paulo, Brazil is one of 10 cities involved in the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety, along with Fortaleza, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia; Bandung, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Accra, Ghana; Mumbai, India; and Shanghai, China.

To read the article and watch Vecino-Ortiz’s video interview, please click here. To learn more about the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety and JH-IIRU’s work in the field, please click here.