Drastic decrease of traffic controls in Buenos Aires City

What Bs As inhabitants believe, based on what they see on the streets, is true: enforcement in Buenos Aires has dropped abruptly. And this is proved by the analysis of the tickets issued last year.

Luchemos por la Vida compared the main tickets issued in the years 2007 and 2012 to those issued in 2013*, and verified a drastic decrease in the amount of issued tickets. Unfortunately, this is not the result of a better behaviour on the streets and avenues, where risky and transgressive behaviours can be observed constantly, almost with a certainty of not being punished. As an example, we emphasize that we have calculated that in 2013 476.000 traffic offences were committed for lack of use of seat belt**, while only 20 tickets per day were issued.

* Source: Ministry of Justice and Security (GCBA)  .http://www.estadistica.buenosaires.gob.ar/areas/hacienda/sis_estadistico/banco_datos/ficha.php?id=2043&idtema=19&idsubtema=82&idssubtema=0

** Measured in relation to the percentage of lack of use of seat belt in 2013 over a total of 1.400.000 passenger cars that circulate daily through the City.

*** 2010.

Worrying facts: in December 2013 only 28 tickets were issued to busses and 375 to taxis.

This drop in controls is far from the best strategies for traffic safety improvement achieved by model countries and that the United Nations recomend in order to substantially reduce deaths and injuries in traffic.

Without appropriate enforcement there will be no traffic safety, and the consequences are evident in the City, where deaths in traffic have increased.