Abstract
In Brazil urban traffic accidents are the principal external cause of death and in certain age groups the first among all causes. Presented are some results of the development of an alternative method of collecting traffic accident data. After a general analysis of the existing methods, an alternative method based on the public participation in the data collecting was developed. The method was tested among different segments of population willing to collaborate. These experiments made it possible to compare this method with other methods. As a result a series of proposals are put forward for implementing this method, taking into account the principal characteristics of the scenario of Brazilian cities.