Correlation Between Risk Factors for the Occurrence and Severity of Traffic Crashes in the City of Rio de Janeiro

The high number of deaths and serious injuries in traffic crashes can be considered a silent global epidemic, as it is still understood by part of society as an inherent consequence of road traffic. There are several risk factors that can increase the occurrence or severity of crashes on roads, acting alone or in combination. Road safety diagnoses based on facts and evidence are essential for improving public policies to reduce victims. With the aim of assisting in these diagnoses and since the official database on these victims is not made available in detail to the public, this work investigates the relationship between seven indicators, collected in field research and in public databases, and the occurrence and fatality of traffic victims in the City of Rio de Janeiro. Linear regression models are developed for each approach and the one with the best statistical parameters is chosen. The model with greater robustness demonstrated that helmet non-use, the density of traffic enforcement cameras, and illiteracy together explain a significant portion of the variation in the fatality rate. The results are considered satisfactory, since a limited number of existing risk factors for road safety were used.