Governmental Expenditures and the Challenges to Improve Road Safety in Brazil

Abstract

This article addresses governmental actions to improve road safety through the analysis of road traffic fatalities and expenditures in education, engineering, and enforcement (the 3E’s approach) in Brazil between 2011 and 2021 from the Fundo Nacional de Segurança e Educação de Trânsito (Funset), a public fund to support actions in safety, education, and engineering to improve Brazilian road safety. Graphical analysis was conducted, Pearson correlation coefficient was used for the variables of Funset expenditures (lnpay) and road deaths in Brazil (lndeaths), and a linear regression model was built to estimate the variation in road fatalities as a function of Funset expenditures. The results show a decrease in road deaths in Brazil with a slight upward trend and a reduction in Funset expenditures for road safety improvement. There is a positive correlation between the downward trend in Funset public investments in education, engineering, and enforcement and fatalities on roads of 0.79. Funset expenditures are inadequately allocated with low expenditure execution average (16.8%). There are many challenges for the Brazilian public administration to ensure road safety, however, it is important to maintain financial support for road safety strategies to improve it and save lives.