Abstract
Pedestrians are causative and victims of traffic accidents in the world and very especially in Latin America. A model originally built for drivers risk behavior is applied to pedestrians in two contrasting countries in the Southern Cone of America: Brazil has the highest mortality rate for traffic accidents and Chile the lowest. An accidental sample -463 participants, 223 Chileans and 240 Brazilians of 17 to 40 years of age-, answered an instrument containing the scale of pedestrian behavior (ECP, 1999) and information relating to sex, age, licensed drivers and participation in traffic accidents was collected. Contributing to explain the contrasting mortality, Chileans reported to perform significantly less pedestrian’s transgressions, fewer errors and lapses than Brazilian pedestrians. Men in both countries are more transgressors than women. We discuss the utility and the results of the model used giving some recommendations for public health in this area.
