A travessia urbana de idosos nas vias requalificadas de Pelotas/RS: comportamento e percepção de risco.

Abstract

The present work focus on the perception and risk behavior of elderly pedestrians at requalified urban intersections and the conflicts that exists in that space. Sidewalks in bad conditions, obstacles, long and unsafe crossings, and the disregard in the urban crossings by drivers, are factors that hinder the safe and autonomous displacement of this portion of the population. Various institutions and worldwide organizations emphasize that the quality and the conditions of the displacement should be priority and provide accessibility, good walking conditions and safe crossings on urban streets. Those aspects are fundamental for the walking displacement of advanced age individuals. With that the exposed, the research becomes pertinent, given the lack of studies that approach and identify the actions and the comprehension of risk by the pedestrians that realize the crossings, specifically on streets that have been through a process of reconstruction. The investigation presents as main goal to identify the behavior and perception of risk by the elderly pedestrians on urban crossings. The case study of this research was realized in the city of Pelotas/RS, on five crossings of one of the requalified streets by the Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento (Growth Acceleration Program) from 2015 to 2016: the General Osório Street, which has big historical importance on the city’s urban mash formation and mobility system. The utilized methodological processes are inserted on the Relations of the Environment- Behavior and studies realized on the Environment Perception, with qualitative and quantity approach, with basis on methods and techniques of the Post-Occupancy Evaluation. On this research were utilized data collecting methods, as file survey, physical survey, observations, photographic records, behavior maps centered on the individual, semi-structured interviews in loco, by phone and poems of wishes. On a general way, the pedestrian demonstrated to feel themselves safer when the crossings have components of semaphoric regularization (even if those are directed to the vehicles), the presence of vertical signalization and the extension of the sidewalk that reduces the distance of the crossings between the street corners. About the observed behavior, it’s noticed that the adopted actions were coherent with the exposed reports about the conducts of the participant sample. It was conclude that the present elements on the studied areas and the characteristics that they have influence on the evaluation of the existent risks on the crossings. However, the risk knowledge, insecurity and danger vary to some pedestrians, who point the disrespect of the vehicle drivers, lack of transit education, among other aspects that aggravate and influence that perception. The study refers to the behavior and environment perception in high risk areas and conflicts between modals, with the peculiarity of observing the elderly perceptions, and can contribute with theoretical subsides to directress and actions in safe urban crossings on streets that will be requalified.