Yesterday, iRAP joined forces with eleven public and private entities in launching Brazil’s Road Safety Pact, a campaign to promote road safety and reduce crashes on the Brazilian road network.

The campaign is one of ten work fronts formalized by the Technical Cooperation Agreement that began in the second half of 2023 and seeks to advance road safety in the country. The Pact seeks to raise awareness among drivers, pedestrians and other road users about the importance of responsible traffic practices and choices, and through an enhanced safety culture, reduce road fatalities and serious injuries.

The Pact was also signed by BrazilRAP Lead Agency National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT); the Brazilian Association of Highway Concessionaires (ABCR); Brazilian Association of Traffic Engineering Companies (Abeetrans); Brazilian Road Safety Association (ABSeV); National Land Transport Agency (ANTT); Infra S.A.; National Institute of Traffic and Safety Projects (Inprotran); Ministry of Transport; National Road Safety Observatory (ONSV) and Federal Highway Police (PRF). Furthermore, it has support from the Brazilian Association of Automatic Payment Companies for Mobility (ABEPAM), Brazilian Association of Land Passenger Transport Companies (ABRATI), Transport Agency of the State of São Paulo (Artesp), Brazilian Association of Unions and Associations Infrastructure Class (Brasinfra) and Heavy Construction Industry Union of the State of São Paulo (Sinicesp).

According to data from the Federal Road Police, there were approximately 68,000 traffic crashes recorded on Brazilian federal roads in 2023, which equates to about seven crashes per hour.

DNIT’s BrazilRAP Project expects to prevent more than 150,000 serious injuries and fatalities over a 20-year period with an economic benefit of BRL 45 billion.

In just 20 months, DNIT supported by local partners and iRAP, Star Rated the country’s extensive 57,000 km network, providing essential data to identify high-risk road segments and develop Safer Roads Investment Plans for each State that prioritised cost-effective engineering countermeasures to improve road safety.

With a planned investment of BRL 18 billion, and in line with the goals of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, the project aims to halve the number of fatalities and serious injuries on the network and achieve international safety standards for more than 75% of travel on existing roads to be rated 3-star or better for all road users by 2030.

Read the PACT Media Release in Spanish here.

Watch the Launch recording here.

Read more on BrazilRAP here.

Image credit: Melhores Rodovias do Brasil (ABCR)