Public Policy of Urban Mobility: Impact of the History and Practices on Young Drivers’ Social Representation of 30 km/hr

The research is part of the project of generalization of the 30 km/h in Angers (France) that funded the study. It aims at providing material to build awareness campaigns for young drivers. The goal is to understand their representations of the 30 km/h within the structural approach of social representations. We focus on the “calling into question” technique in order to confirm the central core composition. The sample is composed of French students living in Angers. Results reveal the role of both historical aspects and the experience of driving in the structuration of the representation. Drivers and non-drivers do not have the same representation of the 30 km/h. Men and women share the same representation under the definition of the central core theory. But our results highlight peripheral differences related to individuals’ practices. Finally, we discuss the definition of representational elements and we explain the relevance of this study for communication.