Thousands of Brazilian children die or suffer physical injuries from traffic accidents. In Brazil it is easy to watch road traffic violations and there is a lot of violence both in the cities and in the country, as a result from this social context. Because the aim of this investigation was to identify behavioral factors present at the time of accident, 20 boys, 5 to 10 years old who were hit by cars, were studied. Although an attempt to obtain representative samples for each socio-economic level has been made, it was not possible to get them; an extensive review of medical and police records indicated that 95% of these cases were from low-income families. Subsequently, the data were obtained from the subjects, their parents, witnesses and drivers. Interviews, questionnaires, and various instruments were used in order to reconstruct the scenario, and to provide a fuller description of high-risk behaviors emitted by the subjects. The results indicated that 1) lower-income boys, due to their poor living conditions, were more exposed to high-risk traffic conditions, and hence more likely to be hit. More specifically, the following aspects were characteristic of accident causality: a) the boys were performing some errand, b) were distracted, c) seemed unaware of traffic-related dangers. 2) With reference to their psychological profiles, the boys did not differ significantly from peer controls, which led to the conclusion that available psychological tests are not predictive of accident proneness. In conclusion, there is an urgent need for restructuring the Brazilian social system, mainly focusing on justice, violence, diminution of gap from low to high social classes in order to lower this particular risk-factor, and for introducing an intensive program emphasizing pedestrian safety precautions in the school curriculum. For the covering abstract see ITRD E137120.
Abstract