Introduction

the United Nations recognizes traffic accidents as a serious public health problem all over the world, because they are accompanied by a high morbidity and mortality rate. Traffic causes the death of approximately 1.3 million people and the disability of millions more.

Objective

to evaluate mortality from traffic accidents among motorcyclists, pedestrians and hospital costs that occurred in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, from 1999 to 2019.

Methods

this is a retrospective time series study with official micro data, collected by place of occurrence among motorcycle drivers, pedestrians and hospital costs from 1999 to 2019, in the city of São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Results

in the city of São Paulo, from 1999 to 2019, there were 144,186 thousand deaths resulting from land transport accidents, projecting 5,293 thousand deaths specifically with motorcyclists. Proportional mortality from was higher in the mean age group of 29 years, predominantly in males, with emphasis on white race/skin color. The costs per death stand out for motorcyclists with an average of R$: 49,078.18, with regard to deaths by sex, male predominated in relation to female.

Conclusion

there was a high death rate, both in motorcyclists and pedestrians, with the latter having a higher average. Thus, these findings provide relevant information on the magnitude of the public health problem to guide us on control strategies for these causes.