The Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) released research this week outlining the effects of motorcycle accidents. Among the data, it is noteworthy that almost a third of the victims are between 20 and 29 years old, a figure much higher than the proportion of this age group in the general population.
The study “Motorcycle Mortality, Morbidity and Risks of Motorcycle Taxi Implementation in Brazil” shows that the number of deaths associated with this type of vehicle increased 15-fold between 1996 and 2023, while the fleet increased from 2.7 million to 34 million motorcycles in approximately the same period.
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The Ipea survey is presented at a time when the city of São Paulo is on the eve of the launch of its motorcycle taxi service (or Motoapp), announced by Uber and 99 on December 11.
“The majority of victims of traffic accidents involving motorcycles have highly salient characteristics: men, young, mixed-race, and of low or middle education (indicating that they are low-income),” the study’s technical note shows.
Between 2005 and 2024, more than 75,000 people between the ages of 20 and 29 died in motorcycle accidents, equivalent to 35% of the total. In the same period, there were 654,000 hospital admissions for motorcyclists in this age group (also 35% of the total).
“In addition, about 90% of the victims had at most a secondary education. This indicates that the majority of these victims belong to lower social classes. Many of them, with relatively low education for more financially attractive labor markets, end up becoming workers in motorcycle applications, making them more vulnerable to traffic accidents,” the technical note says.
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According to Epia, Datasos shows that the official number of deaths on motorcycles jumped from 792, in 1996, to 13,521, in 2023. The death rate peaked in 2014, but has risen again in recent years and reached, two years ago, 6.4 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Ipea data also shows that the number of hospitalizations in the United States due to motorcycle accidents rose 11-fold between 1998 and 2024, to more than 165,000.
According to the survey, motorcycle accident victims account for 60% of total hospitalizations across all types of transportation, even though the fleet is approximately three times smaller than the car fleet.
A technical note from the Ipea study issues a warning. “In 1998, in real terms (values were discounted based on the international tax assessment in June 2025), SUS expenses amounted to R$41 million and jumped to R$273 million in 2024. The trend is a continuous increase,” he says.