Buenos Aires: Confronting drink driving and speeding
The city has since implemented a number of interventions with support from the Partnership for Healthy Cities, including new breathalyzer technology and checkpoint improvements.
This case study was published more than two years ago.
In 2017, 140 people died from road traffic crashes in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A survey that same year indicated that 43 percent of drivers in the city had consumed alcohol before driving in the past year, revealing a serious drink driving problem. In 2020, research determined that speeding was another major cause of road traffic crashes. The city has since implemented a number of interventions with support from the Partnership for Healthy Cities, including new breathalyzer technology and checkpoint improvements.
Work started in June 2021 on the city’s most data-driven, road safety project yet, implementing anti-speeding transformations in an area known for a high rate of pedestrian fatalities: the massive Saenz transfer center.
The Saenz intervention is expected to have a high impact: Removal of one lane of traffic, with the aim of reducing serious crashes by 15%; creation of continuous crossings and sidewalks to reduce the risk of pedestrians being hit by 6%; implementation of elevated crossings to guarantee lower bus speeds; and implementation of a central island for pedestrians to reduce serious crashes by 35%.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the city's work to introduce anti-speeding infrastructure, supported by the Partnership for Healthy Cities, has helped reduce road crash deaths by 35%. Learn more about how increasing testing for drunk driving and public education campaigns have helped create safer streets.
Read the case study
Improving Safety By Reducing Speeding: Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires has been working with the Partnership for Healthy Cities and other local partners to improve the safety of its roads since 2017. The latest project focuses on the high-density Saénz Avenue transport area in the south of Buenos Aires, because of its relatively high rate of pedestrian fatalities. A series of anti-speeding measures were gradually introduced with support from the Partnership, and in collaboration with the World Resources Institute.
