ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE METROPOLITAN SOCIO-SPATIAL STRUCTURE AND TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS VICTIMS

The spatial spread of the urbanisation process of major metropolitan agglomerates in Latin America in general, and Brazil specifically, is marked by the polarisation of economic activities and the population with better socio-economic conditions in the metropolitan centre. The periphery, in turn, concentrates a larger number of low-income population homes and fewer job opportunities, reflected in the heavy periphery-centre commuting of workers. When quantitatively and qualitatively analysing these displacements, this paper seeks to demonstrate, based on the study of the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro (RMRJ), that there is a close correlation between the metropolitan socio-spatial structure and the ongoing high road accident rates, mainly of the populations living in the periphery. In this sense, the paper intends to provide a subsidy to drafting more effective policies to reduce these rates, encompassing a multidisciplinary approach to the problem in question. Socio-spatial structure of the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro Economic development, since the industrial revolution, with the spread of the capitalis