Road safety awareness is a great necessity to preserve lives. According to the Federal Highway Police yearbook, 6.160 people died and 84.526 were injured in traffic accidents in 2024.
This is the same as saying that 16 people died per day on federal highways, which only reinforces the importance of Yellow May as an awareness movement.
Because of this, several campaigns known as 'colorful months' are adopted by health organizations and other governmental and non-governmental institutions in an attempt to better inform the population and reduce these rates.
Thus is born the Yellow May, a movement with the purpose of drawing the public's attention to the high number of accidents and deaths in traffic.
What is Yellow May?
The importance of Yellow May for traffic safety
Human factor causes the vast majority of accidents
Society's participation in the Yellow May
How can a video telemetry system help?
What is Yellow May?
In May 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020).
The origin of this document was based on a study of the OMS (World Health Organization), which in 2009 accounted for around 1,3 million deaths caused by traffic accidents in 178 countries. Furthermore, about 50 million people survived with sequelae.
Traffic accidents are the main cause of death among people 15 and 29 years, in addition to being in second place in the range of 5 to 14 and third among 30 the 44 years.
If nothing was done, the WHO estimated about 1,9 million traffic deaths in 2020 and 2,4 million in 2030. Therefore, the Decade of Action for Road Safety aimed to preserve at least 5 million lives by 2020 through municipal, regional, state, federal and even global plans.
The movement Yellow May comes up with a proposition: to draw attention to the high rate of road traffic deaths and injuries worldwide. A coordinated movement is created between the Public Authorities and Civil Society.
In this sense, the theme traffic safety should be on the agenda for this entire month, in the most diverse segments:
- Government agencies
- Companies
- Class entities
- Associations
- Federations
- organized civil society
The importance of Yellow May for traffic safety
It is the year 2025 and the Yellow May movement continues to be extremely relevant. The theme of this year's Yellow May, organized by the National Road Safety Observatory, is: Human Mobility, Human Responsibility.
And what is the reason for this choice? Simple, travel is done by people, so road safety is a shared responsibility.
According to the 2023 edition of the Global Status Report on Road Safety, Brazil reduced traffic deaths by 23%, which shows us that joint efforts yield results.
Even though the results of the Decade of Actions for Road Safety were positive on a global scale, accidents and irresponsibility in traffic are still a major problem, making Yellow May extremely important for society.
Human factor causes the vast majority of accidents
Why do you think we have so many traffic accidents in our country? Bad quality of cars? Roads in bad condition? Weak legislation?
As incredible as it may seem, none of these options are the answer. The main and almost only cause of traffic accidents is human irresponsibility. According to Conrado Braga Zagabria, “traffic accidents are preventable”.
We tend to call them accidents, but accidents are always linked to human error, whether it be the driver's irresponsibility, a pedestrian's carelessness or poor mobility conditions.
With this in mind, the main causes of traffic accidents are related to:
- move on cell phone
- Apply lipstick
- Steering with just one hand
- Tiredness
- Consumption of alcohol and other drugs
- inattention
- Speeding
- Respect the minimum distance between vehicles
- Among many others
According to Traffic Accident Management Information System (Infosiga SP), 94% of registered accidents with deaths are caused by these human errors.
Given this, it is increasingly possible to understand why awareness and education in traffic are so important, given that the main problem that causes accidents is people.
But after all, what can society do?
Society's participation in the Yellow May
The main objective of Yellow May is to raise awareness in society, highlighting the safety culture in traffic. In this way, the movement is not limited to drivers, but is directed at society in general.
Read more: Company embraces the Yellow May cause
Have you ever heard of the movement? Movement Connects in Traffic? This is an initiative made by Golfleet with the aim of further spreading awareness in traffic.
We also provide, for free, road safety manual for drivers, an eBook that contains several tips and lessons for better behavior and attention in traffic. Get yours and start implementing fleet management recommendations in your company!
We know that fleet drivers spend most of their day driving, making awareness raising extremely important. The company's role in these cases is to develop internal projects, not only in May but every day, to raise awareness among drivers.
In addition to instructing drivers on safe driving, many actions can be implemented in your company: educational lectures, recognition programs for responsible drivers, periodic fleet reviews, and the use of technologies such as video telemetry to correct risky behavior in real time.
Read more: How to design and implement a fleet safety program
How can a video telemetry system help?
With technological advances, today we can count on the video telemetry system, technology responsible for monitoring safety and assisting fleet drivers during their journeys.
Do you know how this system works? Let us explain.
The video telemetry system is made up of cameras and sensors distributed throughout the car, with a voice system to carry out real-time commands to fleet drivers.
Additionally, it monitors speed, sudden braking, cornering angles and even the driver's condition.
When the video telemetry system notices some type of infraction, something that could put the driver at risk, it automatically issues a voice alert, instructing the driver to correct the inappropriate behavior.
How can this system help prevent accidents?
With the implementation of video telemetry in fleet vehicles, some features can be taken advantage of by both the fleet driver and the fleet manager. Some of these features are:
verbal coaching
Verbal Coaching is a video telemetry tool that consists of, in a humanized way, alert and instruct the fleet driver in moments when he is acting recklessly.
The tool has the function of message when starting the vehicle, warning message when the speed limit is being exceeded and warning when overtaking dangerously.
Video Tracking
The Video Tracking tool aims to ensure well-being through cameras and sensors, caring for and monitoring the fleet driver safety. Besides monitor speed, generating alerts when the speed limit is exceeded.
Equipped with internal and external cameras, the driver has complete safety from possible dangers on the road, being notified through Verbal Coaching if there is any need.
Read more Video telemetry in accident prevention: how to implement it correctly in the fleet
Yellow May reminds us that Road safety is a collective and daily commitment. Companies, drivers and citizens can save lives with conscious attitudes. Adopt safe practices and help build more humane traffic.
Adopting safe attitudes in traffic is everyone's responsibility. How about starting with your fleet? Implement actions today and contribute to safer traffic.
And to learn more about how to ensure the safety of your team with a video telemetry system, just check out our complete and free eBook.
