That expression according to which “death travels on two wheels” has been used for a long time in various latitudes. But in the light of the most recent statistics, it seems that this is an increasingly noticeable reality in Latin America.
(See: Motorcycle Market in Colombia is still up: Sales grew 50.11% in September).
And it is that while there is a reduction in the accidents attributable to buses and cars, the available data show an unequivocal tendency to increase the fatalities on behalf of motorcycles. According to a report by the Pan American Health Organization, The participation of these vehicles within the deaths attributable to traffic went from 8% to 46% between 2009 and 2023 in the Andean area, while in the Southern Cone it did 14% to 36% and in the Spanish -speaking Caribbean from 12% to 64% in the same period.
Although the newest figures exist for only a handful of countries, everything indicates that the diagnosis worsens. The reports of several of the largest capitals, from Mexico to Argentina, show sustained deterioration in recent months.
The main cause is the sustained expansion of this mobility method, as sales live a boom period. During the first half of the current year 2.8 million new units were placed in the area, which represents a 19% increase compared to the same period of 2024.
It is not just that the economy of the area shows signs of relative stability, which translates into greater available income. To the extent that large players from India or China have opened assembly lines on this Pacific side, prices have fallen. Greater access to financial services by the population facilitates things, giving rise to very low monthly installments.
Along with the above, there is the growing mess of the traffic jams in the most congested cities or the difficulties of communication in the field, which favors agile and cheap options. Elements such as the increase in the office of packages and food meals have contributed an important quota in what happened.
In general, time profits are the main motivation to leave mass transport and even get out of the car. “I went to take 50 to 20 minutes to go from my house to my work site,” says Marcela Rodríguez, who a few months ago took her motorcycle on credit.
Like so many, eSta Bogotana decided to take the step, despite being aware of the risks and being exposed to climate changes. “Management carefully and I don’t compete with anyone,” he says.
Many, unfortunately, do not act like this. It is enough to move anywhere in the national territory to find the driver who breaks any security protocol, with the consequences in view. The result is unfortunate, because incidents for motorcycle are the first cause of death in the country and in the region for young men, in what is already qualified as a true public health problem.
(See: Motorcycle Market in Colombia is still up: Sales grew 50.11% in September).
Motorcycle sale
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Perverse logic
Despite different efforts, even in Latin America operates that kind of three macabre rule that shows an obvious correlation between the amount of motorcycles in the streets and roads and the total road accidents. It is true that in Southeast Asia photography is something worse, but the indicators between one and another place show less and less differences.
Such deterioration is particularly burdensome, both in economic and social terms, as individual analyzes prove. The World Bank published at the beginning of September a report regarding Brazil, which is one of the critical cases in this part of the world.
According to the entity, when medical and hospitable expenses are added, administrative charges, Production losses, material damage and wasted potential, mishaps in the pavement equals almost 4% of the largest economy in the region (61.3 billion dollars). In time, the calculation is 2.34 million years that can never be recovered.
It is worth clarifying that the estimate includes incidents in all types of vehicles, as well as pedestrians. But here also the bikes correspond to a growing quota, since they already represent half of the road deaths in Brazilian territory.
Given the evolution of a problem that goes from bad to worse, the alarms have been lit for a while. In August 2023, for example, the United Nations Secretary General appointed a special envoy to meet with the representatives of several governments of Central and South America, in order to promote a strategy aimed at half -decreasing the number of victims by the end of this decade.
Nothing indicates that it will be, although in what makes automotive of four or more wheels there are important advances. Better equipped cars in passenger security and with more external alert systems, have been accompanied by infrastructure progress, stricter speed limits and frequent alcohol controls.
However, in what has to do with motorcycles the balance is not encouraging. Given its rapid massification, The authorities have been exceeded, without the proper coordination between municipal, regional and national instances.
(See: Ituran points out that in the first semester more than 16,000 motorcycles were stolen in the country).
Along with the above the norms have been left behind, while users of the two wheels mislead their freedom and are easily attracted to those who, from politics and legislative bodies, assure them that they will be left alone. This implies the use of pressure mechanism. Hinder traffic and affect the daily activities of the majority is easy when you have the power to call, as demonstrated The protest of thousands of motorized in mid -September in Bogotá.
Thus, motorcyclists have become a larger headache, especially for mayors in places as different as Honduras, Paraguay or Ecuador. Apart from the accident, there is citizen disobedience that translates into the refusal when complying with minimum safety standards such as the use of the helmet. When controls arrive, aggressions to traffic agents are usual, which accelerates a vicious circle that translates into greater permissiveness and higher risks.
The color of a motorcycle says a lot about the pilot, according to experts.
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Like the crab
Colombia is not only witnessing many of these behaviors, but it has a disturbing evolution. According to OECD data, Our accident rates are within the worst in Latin America and aim to deteriorate.
The data speak for themselves. In 2024 the number of deaths from road accidents in the national territory was 8,433, with a slight reduction of 1% compared to the preceding year. Of that total, 62% were a motorcycle user, a proportion that exceeds in more than 15 percentage points the Latin American average.
On the other hand, of the more than one million injured in transit episodes, two thirds were in a two -wheeled vehicle. The required care presses the already scarce resources that health requires, because Although there is mandatory insurance many drivers do not acquire it. Thus, 58% of the motorcycles registered in the RUNT do not have the corresponding SOAT.
In addition, the injuries suffered in each incident are categorized as serious in 58% of cases. Apart from the loss of lives, there is a high number of permanent disabilities. According to Fasecolda, in 2022 17,000 compensation were paid for this concept.
(See: In figures: the towns of Bogotá where more motorcycle robberies are recorded).
To make matters worse, this year does not look good. The report made by the National Road Safety Agency at the end of August shows an increase of 4.5% in the 5,472 deaths counted, Faced with the figures of 2024. Of that accumulated, 63% corresponded to motorcycle conductors.
Motorcycles
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Such progression is related to sales behavior, which are still shot. In September, 102,831 units were registered, which constitutes a historical record for that month, although the absolute brand was reached in July with 112,214. The increase is 37% in the first nine months of the calendar, compared to the same period last year.
It is worth recognizing that car negotiations also go with the thorough accelerator at the national level. However, for each new car that is delivered to the tracks, 4.1 motorcycles arrive. The vast majority are low displacement, because half is in the group of 100 to 125 cubic centimeters and a good part of the rest is less than 200.
Such dynamism positively impacts the economy, from the point of view of industrial production and different chains. It can also be argued that the time savings in traffic amount to billions of hours for a large segment of the population.
But there is another face of the currency that cannot be ignored. Calculations of the expert Darío Hidalgo point out that “the bonnet’s accident generates costs of the order of 22 billion a year,” based on the impact on health and loss of productivity. Other estimates are even greater.
Be that as it may, the fact that 15 motorcyclists die every day on average deserves to be considered an emergency. Because beyond the typical fatalism of Colombian idiosyncrasy, in which the victim is normally to blame, the sustained sacrifice of so many people is simply intolerable.
Advancing in this topic requires learning from other places. Darío Hidalgo emphasizes how in Europe and Asia, appreciable reductions in fatalities have been achieved, At the tip of controls, standards and improvements of technology, such as the requirement of ABS braking systems.
For Gustavo Morales, president of Fasecolda, there is another crucial factor that begins with education and the sense of responsibility of motorcyclists. “Because road safety does not depend only on the SOAT or the authorities: it depends on a cultural change in each driver and in each pedestrian”, Emphasizes.
Nor can the efforts made that another outcome are possible be ignored. Claudia Díaz, Mobility Secretary of Bogotá, exposes some of the decisions taken with positive results In a city where 70% of road accidents involve motorcycles.
For example, the placement of highlights on several important avenues in order to reduce accidents has brought results. “We have seen zero deaths in those sections and a 40% decrease in the amount of injured“, says.
Outside that, there is a concentrated attention in critical points that led to 30% less death in such segments. The official concludes by stating that if he had not done The interventions and if the previous trend had been maintained, the balance of victims would be 14% higher.
These learnings corroborate that there is much to do to control this “epidemic” that He hits Latin America so strongly and with even more hardness Colombia. And as happens in integral treatments, coordinated therapies are required so that there are substantial improvements in a field in which too many crosses have been planted. Because life can also walk on two wheels.
Ricardo Ávila Pinto
Special for time
In X: @ravilapinto
