The influence of fatalistic beliefs and risk perceptions on road safety attitudes in Latin America; a two-country study

Road safety is a major challenge in the Latin American region; however, there is a significant lack of research undertaken there. To contribute to addressing this gap, this paper reports on an exploration of the antecedents of traffic safety attitudes in two Latin American contexts: Brazil and Ecuador. Building on related work undertaken in other countries, the research explored the relationships between fatalistic beliefs, traffic risk perceptions, and road safety attitudes, while accounting for age, gender, and exposure to the road environment. Data from 2432 individuals, analysed using Structural Equation Modelling, revealed differences in the extent to which different fatalistic belief constructs (including divine control, luck, helplessness, internality, and general fatalism) were related to road safety attitudes. Moreover, fatalistic beliefs were found to influence road safety attitudes both directly and indirectly through their influence on risk perceptions. Those that reported more fatalistic beliefs also reported more dangerous attitudes to road safety and a lower perception of on-road risk. Mirroring findings from work undertaken in other countries, we found males compared to females and younger compared to older respondents to report more dangerous attitudes to road safety, with inconclusive results for risk perceptions. We also found very similar patterns of results in the data from the two countries included in the research. Results are discussed with regards to informing the design of road safety interventions aimed at influencing individual road user attitudes and, ultimately, human behaviour and system performance.