By Beatriz Miranda, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This Carnival Rio’s highways saw five deaths between Friday, February 9th, to Sunday, February 11th, according to officials. The Federal Highway Police (PRF) also registered 66 accidents and eighty injured people during this period.
On the first three days of Carnival 2018, 1,032 drivers were submitted to the breathalyzer test, of which five were caught driving drunk, 47 refused to do the test and two were arrested.
Additionally, PRF officers registered a total of 3,539 penalties during this period, being 1,937 issued by stationary radars spread across Rio’s highways. Most of the infractions are related to forbidden overtaking (713 cases) and not using the seat belt (496).
There was also the record of 39 children out of the safety seat and 29 motorcyclists not wearing the helmet. Until last Sunday, February 11th, 58 driving licenses and 83 vehicles were seized.
Having started last Friday, February 9th, PRF’s Carnival operation will be on until this Wednesday, February 14th, and aims to reinforce the preventive policing actions on Rio’s roads. This operation is part of RodoVida, a wider operation taking place on all of Brazil’s highways, which began on December 2017 and lasts until February 18th.
As stated in PRF’s reports, compared to last Carnival, the number of incidents this year decreased considerably: in 2017, PRF registered 108 accidents, 98 injured people and six deaths.
From 2013 to 2017, most of the accidents on Brazil’s roads were concentrated in the states of Bahia, Minas Gerais and Santa Catarina, which together were responsible for thirty percent of the accidents over the last five Carnivals.