ABSTRACT
Traffic accidents are one of the most important public health problems in the world and produce social, work and human resources losses. Data were obtained from death certificates in which the cause of death was a traffic acciden. All death certificates obtained by the National Institute of Statistics during 1994 were used. Social, demographic and seasonal variable were recorded. During 1994 there were 1679 deaths due to traffic accidents (81 percent male), with a rate of 19.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. Gender specific risks were 19.62 and 4.48 for men and women, respectively. Mean age at the moment of death was 39 years old. Fifty three percent of deceased people were single, 42 percent married and 5 percent widowers. Ten percent had not formal education, 48 percent had basic education, 23 percent college education and 6.5 percent university education. Seventy seven percent of fatalities ocurred in urban areas. The risk of death of traffic accidents was 7.02 per 100,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan region. The information obtained in the present study may help to generate preventive strategies to control deaths caused by traffic accidents