Rio de Janeiro

Addressing Road Safety in Rio

CitiesRio de JaneiroAddressing Road Safety in Rio

Bloomberg Associates developed a Pedestrian Safety Master Plan for the City of Rio de Janeiro.

We believe this program will set us on the road to safer streets for everyone in Rio de Janeiro, and prove once again that our city is committed to improving the quality of life for all its citizens, no matter where they live or how they travel. Our goal is to prevent every last crash on our streets and this is our next step to that safer, more vibrant future.

Eduardo Paes, Former Mayor of Rio de Janeiro

Relevant Expertise

Improve Public Space and Neighborhoods

Pedestrian Infrastructure Improvements

Transform Streets and Mobility

Road Safety

Challenge

Traffic crashes are a leading cause of unnatural death in Rio across every age group. With car ownership on the rise, extra measures had to be taken to ensure pedestrian safety on the streets. More than 450 people died in traffic on the streets of Rio in 2014. The City of Rio de Janeiro asked Bloomberg Associates to develop a plan to address this problem.

Approach

Bloomberg Associates proposed developing a Pedestrian Safety Master Plan for Rio. The proposal included two elements: a Rapid Implementation Safety Program and a Comprehensive Data collection and management plan. The first element would address high-crash locations and common causes of crashes and complete five projects in a single year, distributed over all five of Rio’s Planning Areas, with life-saving policies adopted immediately, including educational campaigns, enforcement, and policy changes. To address road safety issues effectively, cities need to have data on where crashes are occurring, and how often plus a protocol to measure results before and after changes are made. Bloomberg Associates helped Rio establish key metrics, along with important data collection and analysis processes among city agencies.

The process included an assessment of the road safety-related information systems collected by various players (state and city), an analysis of the data management process (from data gathering and capturing to data analysis and usage), and a proposal for an integrated system that synthesizes data on victims and crashes originating from different sources.

Impact

The first phase of the program was completed at the end of 2015 and addressed 32 intersections across five regions. In consultation with Bloomberg Associates, Secretaria Municipal de Transportes (SMTR) initiated site visits to a series of high-crash locations. The Mayor committed to a minimum of five projects in each of the participating regions, to be completed by the end of that year. The second phase focused on the most vulnerable parts of the city, Downtown and other crowded pedestrian corridors, including areas where the Olympic Games would increase the number of tourists and pedestrian traffic. Through our work, Bloomberg Associates helped ensure pedestrian safety was a priority for Rio de Janeiro, designing safer streets for decades to come.