Negação do risco de acidente no trânsito: um estudo de representações sociais com motociclistas em Pato Branco

Abstract

Each subject delimits the environment and acts on it from their representations, information, experiences and everyday experiences in their time and space. The subjects' perceptions of risk, besides being linked to issues of environment, culture and the common sense of the subjects, are linked to the expert systems in which we trust. In this sense, the present dissertation presents results of an investigation whose purpose was to analyze the relations between the social representations about traffic accident risk and traffic behavior of a group of motorcycle drivers of Pato Branco, Paraná, in relation to driving practice, vehicle maintenance and professional experience, as well as their social representations about accident risk in that environment. Twenty-five professionals participated in the survey carrying a National Driver's License to drive a motorcycle. The data were collected through a word evocation test, whose inductive term was Risk in Traffic and a structured questionnaire that aimed to identify which elements present in the traffic are considered risk by the participants and to identify the profile of them in relation to professional experience, the practice of pilotage and the maintenance of the vehicle. The results showed that the elements accident, recklessness, high speed and disrespect are the most salient elements of the social representations about risk of traffic accidents, evoked by the term inductor used. The investigation prioritized the elucidation of elements that hide behind normative pressures, that is, the zone changes of the social representations. The results point out that the risk coexistence routine is generating the risk denial, which seems to be leading the participants of this study to develop cognitive strategies of risk minimization and immunity to the threat.