SOCIAL IMPACT ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS ON BRAZILIAN HIGHWAYS

The objective of this research was to evaluate statistical relationships between variables inherent to accidents and traffic occurrences on Brazilian federal highways, in the year 2020. This is an applied study, with a quantitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach. The data source was the website of the Federal Highway Police of Brazil and the locus was the entire Brazilian territory. Data analysis was inferential, given the application of statistical methods via hypothesis tests of significance. The Northeast and Southeast regions had the highest number of deaths due to traffic accidents (1,571 and 1,371), respectively. On weekends, most (21,087) of the occurrences were recorded, during the day shift (34,397), however, fatal accidents were predominantly recorded at night. The type of straight lane route had the most records (38,336), collision between vehicles was the most lethal type of accident (2,955), rural areas recorded twice as many deaths as urban areas. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, where restrictive measures for human displacement directly influenced the statistics of traffic accidents, especially in the period from March to April 2020, especially in the Southeast and South regions, impacting social relations and public administration due to traffic victimization.