Driving in São Paulo is for the daring, the foolish, or the infinitely patient; traffic is always chaotic and frequently snarled and slow, particularly during rainstorms when water floods the streets. When you want to stop, parking is expensive and difficult to find. São Paulo’s appalling traffic has given rise to the world’s largest fleet of civilian helicopters that ferry commuting executives in from their suburban homes. In an attempt to declog the streets the city has brought in a traffic rotation system. Cars with a license plate that ends in 1 or 2 are not allowed to drive in the city on Monday; plates ending in 3 or 4 are banned on Tuesday, no plates ending in 5 or 6 on Thursday, and on Friday 9s and 0s are off the streets. These restrictions are in effect between 7 and 10am and 5 and 8pm. Service vehicles are excluded from this regulation. Fines are steep, and photo radar and police keep track of cars as they enter the city.
Watch Out for Rogue Motorcyclists
São Paulo has the highest number of motorcycles in the country, most of them used by couriers. Be careful; even when traffic is backed up motorcycles will ride at high speeds weaving in between stopped cars.
Brazilian traffic laws impose severe penalties for a number of traffic offenses. Enforcement ranges from sporadic to non-existent, so motorists should not assume that others will necessarily follow even the most fundamental and widely accepted rules of the road. Some important local rules and customs include the following:
Seat Belts: All states have seat belt laws, but enforcement varies from state to state
Child Car Seats: Some states require child car seats, but they are not universally available or affordable, and enforcement is also lax. As a result, most children are not secured in car seats.
Speed Limits: The maximum speed limit on major, divided highways is 120kmph (74 mph). Lower limits (usually 60kmph (40 mph)) are often posted in urban areas, depending on the road and the nature of the neighborhood. Speed limits are widely ignored and rarely enforced. Many towns and cities have marked electronic/photographic devices (“Fiscalisacao Electronica”), which verify speed and snap photos of violators’ cars and license plates as a basis for issuing speeding tickets. Brazilian drivers tend to brake suddenly when encountering these devices.
Yielding the Right of Way: Drivers must yield the right of way to cars on their right. Compliance with stop signs is rarely enforced; so many motorists treat them as yield signs.
Driving Under the Influence: Drivers are in violation of the law if blood/alcohol level reaches 0.06 percent.
Turns on Red Lights : Not permitted, except for right turns where there is a sign with an arrow pointing right and the words “Livre a Direita.”
Penalties for Drivers Involved in an Accident Resulting in Injury or Death: In addition to possible criminal charges and penalties, compensatory and punitive damages may also apply.
Local Driving Customs: Drivers often use flashes or wave a hand out of the window to signal other drivers to slow down. Drivers will often break suddenly to slow down for the electronic speed traps mentioned above. In addition, pedestrian “zebra” crossings are strictly observed in some places (especially in Brasilia) and ignored most everywhere else.
In Brazil the driver’s license is known as the Carteira Nacional de Habilitação (CNH). A foreign driver’s license can be used for up to six months, but has to be in combination with an official translation into Portuguese stamped by the traffic authority, Departamento Estadual de Trânsito (DETRAN).
An International Driver’s License can sometimes avoid the need for the translation, but it will depend on what languages it has within. If it doesn’t have Portuguese then an official translation will still be required, but in either case the stamp from DETRAN is still required.
If you stay more than six months in Brazil you have to apply for a temporary driver’s license for foreigners, valid for one year. If you are still waiting for your CIE (Foreigners ID card, which can take 2 or 3 months) the temporary driver’s license can be extended for another year.
You have to apply for the driver’s license at the office of the local state’s traffic authority, DETRAN.
For the temporary driver’s license for foreigners you will need to present the following documents:
Passport (original + photocopy of the page with the personal data)
Your national driver’s license (original + photocopy)
Official translation of your national driver license (original + photocopy)
Proof of fitness to drive (from a doctor indicated by DETRAN)
Prove of residence in Brazil (original + photocopy) e.g. phone or electricity bill
CPF (original + photocopy) if you have already one
You will receive a payment form to pay the administration fee (approximately R$13) in a bank indicated by DETRAN. After you have paid the fee you can hand in the documents. If everything is correct they will immediately issue the temporary driver’s license.
Note that the regulations covering the temporary driver’s license may be different in each state (e.g. in the state of Rio de Janeiro and some others, they do not issue temporary licenses).
Once you have the CIE you must apply for a Brazilian driver’s license. The temporary license cannot be used. You will need to present the same documents listed above and the fee will be approximately R$53. It is very important that you keep the result of the medical exam in a safe place, because the Brazilian driver’s license is validated by the medical exam. The exam is valid for five years. When the driver’s license expires you will need another medical exam to apply for a new license valid for another five years. The fee for the medical exam is approximately R$60. The new driver’s license will be issued within two weeks.
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