By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 29 2003 (IPS)

Brazil’s motorcycle manufacturing industry has grown at a dizzying pace in recent years, analogous to the speed of these two-wheeled vehicles on the country’s roads, and serving as an indicator of just how many people are willing to put their lives at risk.

The Brazilian Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (Abraciclo) predicts a total output this year of a million new motorcycles, 16 percent more than in 2003. This expansion stands in contrast to the rest of the recession-strapped industrial sector, particularly automakers.

But this accelerated growth has been ongoing since 1983, when Brazil manufactured just 83,458 motorcycles. Production has multiplied 12-fold since.

Motorcycle exports, meanwhile, have seen just half that level of growth. This year’s foreign sales are forecast to reach 90,000 units, or nine percent of overall production, says an Abraciclo report.

The other side of the motorcycle story is increased concern among the population and the authorities about traffic safety. According to Brazilian Health Ministry figures, vehicle accidents claim around 30,000 lives a year in this country of 172 million people.

Statistics show that traffic accidents caused 6.8 deaths for every 10,000 vehicles in circulation in Brazil in 2000. For comparison, the rates were 1.32 per 10,000 vehicles in Japan, 1.46 in Germany, 1.93 in the United States and 2.35 in France.

But Brazil’s situation was even worse before. In 1991, there were 11.3 deaths for every 10,000 vehicles on the streets, according to the National Traffic Department. The data include only those deaths that occurred at the time of the accident, not deaths that happened later as a result of wounds suffered.

The cost of these tragedies in Brazil’s urban areas alone reaches 5.3 billion reais (1.85 billion dollars) a year, says a study released in May by the Ministry of Planning’s Institute of Applied Economic Research.

The number of motorcycles in circulation today tops 3.6 million and represents 10 percent of all vehicles in Brazil, but they represent 19 percent of the accident costs, which include missed workdays, material losses, medical assistance and other factors.

All of these are "alarmist statistics," Marcelo Matos, vice-president of the Moto-Employees Union of Rio de Janeiro, told IPS. "I’ve been riding motorcycles for the past 20 years and the only accident I had gave me a couple scratches."

The union, recognised as such in 1991, represents some 60,000 so-called "motoboys", a job title that emerged in the 1980s. Motorcycles became the godsend for deliveries of documents, food and other purchases in cities congested by heavy four-wheel vehicle traffic.

The companies offering this quick delivery service numbered 300 to 400 in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, but "today there are more than 1,600," not counting those that are not legally registered, pointed out Matos.

In Sao Paulo, there are an estimated 2,700 such companies employing 170,000 motorcyclists. In that ever-congested city of 10 million inhabitants, the two-wheel vehicles have become indispensable given the slow speed of cars on city streets.

"Motoboys" usually own their own motorcycles. The delivery companies employ them and pay them for the use of the motorbike, wages and food assistance, totalling some 300 dollars a month, says Matos, who began working in this fast-paced field 13 years ago at the age of 20.

Insurance companies do not want to provide coverage for motorcyclists, but if they do they charge exorbitant rates. So most motorcycle owners do not carry insurance, even though robbery is very common – "the biggest problem they face," Matos says.

Another use of the motorcycle is spreading in Brazil, the so-called "moto-taxi", with drivers charging a fare to transport a single passenger. This line of work, growing in medium and large cities alike, "is not regulated and is done clandestinely," he said.

But new types of employment are not the main factor behind the explosive growth of Brazil’s motorcycle market. Most are purchased for personal transportation, particularly to commute to work, but also for recreation, says Franklin de Melo, Abraciclo’s executive director.

The motorcycle industry became established in Brazil in 1975 with the arrival of the Japanese manufacturers Yamaha and Honda.

But the industrial policy at the time required the use of nationally made components, and the auto-parts manufacturers did not have the capacity to produce them, complicating the motorcycle business early on, Melo explained in a conversation with IPS.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, high inflation and periods of economic recession prevented major expansion of the sector, but that changed in 1994, when increased currency stability was achieved.

Economic instability takes a toll on the motorcycle market because it is a product associated mostly with people of the lower and middle classes whose income does not allow the purchase of an automobile, Melo said.

Thanks to the increased scale of production and a more flexible industrial policy, the cost of smaller, less powerful motorcycles has fallen, from 3,000 dollars in 1994 to around 1,400 dollars today, said the executive.

He laments the "panic syndrome" created by the dissemination of what he says are "exaggerated" figures and opinions about traffic accidents, which go so far as to stigmatise motoboys as "near criminals".

Brazilian motorcycles are comparable to those manufactured in Europe in terms of quality and safety, which is confirmed by the volume of exports, he said.

Melo stressed that industry is doing its duty by maintaining driver-training centres and offering courses to the purchasing companies.

But union leader Matos notes that greater oversight is needed for motorcycle-related jobs, and more "defensive" driver training should be provided by public agencies.

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