Violência no trânsito e crescimento econômico no Brasil

Abstract

There is a concerning and increasing quantity of traffic violence internationally and in Brazil, underlining the importance of this theme to Public Health through an expanded health concept. Traffic violence finds roots in the historical formation of society, where the introduction of automobiles reflects the arrangement of classes of that time, and these reflections still can be seen in today’s society. Access to automobiles and other means of transport through the increase of wealth makes income an important social determinant of health in the study of traffic violence. This study aims to understand the relationship between the increase of income and traffic violence using a spatial data panel of 12 years. The results of the Spatial Durbin Error Model point to the occurrence of a Kuznets Curve for this relation, where the factors of the vehicle fleet, investments on traffic infrastructure and urbanization and the HDI are significant. As a result, traffic violence can be affected by public policies that target these factors, instead of requiring that the municipalities reaches more elevated levels of income to observe a reduction in traffic violence.