106

106. That’s quite a figure. 106 is the number of Brazilians who died this last weekend in traffic accidents on the country’s roads. Three short days, Friday to Saturday, is all it took for 106 people to wipe themselves out of existence. Hundreds more lie in critical condition in local area hospitals, wondering how they will recover. The worst part about this number, which I caught on the news, is that it is by no means a statistical anomaly.

Brazil has one of the highest rates of car accident fatalities in the Americas with 24.2 killed in crashes per 100,000 members of the population. Brazil ranks third in the world with the worst road death rate per person, just behind El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. Crashes claim over 35,000 lives despite a federal campaign to educate the public on road safety.

“Just ask Carolina Amorim about that split second a dozen years ago that she would give anything to have back, as the 30-year-old journalist may never recover emotionally from the car accident that claimed the life of her then-boyfriend Alexandre Cabeda Egger Moellwald in Porto Alegre in 1998. In one fateful moment, Amorim went from preparing to marry the man of her dreams to seeing him taken from her forever – all because a motorist made an illegal turn, causing the couple's vehicle to crash into a street light. Moellwald was clinging to life when he arrived at the hospital, but he never woke up. The trauma sent Amorim into a downward spiral, as she became sick and anorexic, her weight dropping to a frail 39 kilograms (86 pounds).”

Driving on these roads, especially on a motorcycle, had me scared from the beginning. Road conditions are dismal, requiring one to stay alert to large potholes, small or nonexistent shoulders, and badly designed roadways (more turn lanes please). These infrastructure shortfalls are compounded by the fact that there are little to no police enforcing traffic laws. Speed radars and "agentes de trânsito" just don’t seem to have much effect.


But I think the problem goes much further than this. The problem with Brazilian traffic fatalities is less a physical and more of a mental one. There is a strange phenomenon that exists in this country which I don’t see as much in the United States. It is a question of social structure. In Brazil, when someone has established a connection to your immediate family, you will fight tooth and nail for them. A sense of camaraderie is very strong here, and extends to friends and distant relatives. The plus side to this is that people will rally to an allies cause. If you are hurt in the hospital, just watch how many friends will show up offering aid. People will call their people who will call their people who will make sure that you get decent care! But the downside to this is that, if you aren’t part of that immediate social circle, well then fuck you. You are dirt underneath my toes. This mentality extends to all aspects of public life, including the political scene and the inherent corruption within. Who you know is everything because being known is how you earn respect.

This strange mental philosophy, what I would call the ‘law of the jungle’, manifests itself most brutally on the Brazilian roads. Before a Brazilian gets in a car they can be the friendliest person in the world. But as soon as they set foot into that thin plastic and metal bubble, separating them from their immediate social reality, they become little testosterone induced dictators, willing to off just about anybody who would disrespect them or get in their way (ask me if pedestrians have right of way in this country).

On many occasions I have been scared out of my mind getting into a friend's or taxi driver's car. The worst episode happened just a week ago when my friends and I were returning from Praia do Forte (a local resort town). We got into a small transport van returning us to the city. The driver was trying to compete with another van for passengers, screaming ahead on the double lane road in an effort to get to the next bus stop before the other van did. It was an hour and a half of sheer terror, of passing on blind corners, and I am still kicking myself for not being responsible and getting off when I knew I should have. The funny thing was, most of the Brazilians on the bus were acting like it was the most normal thing in the world. I wanted to scream at them that THIS NOT NORMAL! THIS SHIT WILL GET YOU KILLED!


For personal friends and authorities, I do have some suggestions:

1. Please, please, please, have seat belts available in the back seat for your passengers. Most people bury the release connector because seat belts are just not what they do. As a driver, YOU are responsible for YOUR friend’s lives. Do the grown up thing and offer them a safety device.

2. Please slow down. I’m not interested in your race car driving skills. I prefer to arrive on location alive and late rather than fast and dead.

3. Please invest in road infrastructure and safety. Putting a palm leaf in a giant gaping hole in the middle of the street is not sufficient. Think about double lane highways on anything above 120 km per hour. Put in traffic cops not lazy sete personnel whose only seeming job is to arrive at accidents AFTER they occur.

4. And lastly, please everyone remember that “the other guy” out there could in fact be a part of your social circle. Let’s think about having a beer with him or her instead of a head to head face off where nobody ultimately wins.

With these small efforts, 106 traumas and life terminations is in fact avoidable.