With data taken from the post-mortem records of the Office of the Medical Legal Examiner, the authors have studied some characteristics of death in motor vehicles traffic accidents in the city of São Paulo, Brazil during the period of January 1 till December 31, 1970. The study shows that there is a high mortality; it varies with sex and age, being higher among males and with the highest rates among those over 60's. Traffic accidents generally occur in the major thoroughfares but its incidence is higher in the South part of the city and mainly on Saturdays and Sundays. A reasonable proportion of the deceaseds mainly pedestrians, was attended at a hospital. The total number of accidents, victims and deaths showing that for each 100 accidents there were 62,50 victims and 5,13 deaths and for each 100 victims, 8,22 deaths.
Accidents, Traffic; Vehicles, motor; Mortality; Automobile driving; Epidemiology
