Almost always, child pedestrian accidents occur because the child has stepped or run into a road. The authors of this article argue that the major cause of such accidents is inadequate socialisation, not lack of skills. Child pedestrian safety can be improved by making roads safer, educating drivers to take more care, improved supervision of young children, and appropriately focused efforts to change child behaviour. At present, attempts to change behaviour almost all take the form of education and training, but they are liable to be based on incorrect assumptions about child behaviour. Many child pedestrian accidents may be caused mainly by children's inattentiveness, impulsiveness, and disregard for danger. Therefore, it may be better to train children to restrain their impulses and encourage them to value their safety and behave as responsible pedestrians. The authors could find no evidence in the extensive literature on road safety that inadequate skills are the main causes of child pedestrian accidents. There is now quite good evidence that accidental injury is associated with other factors such as delinquency, problem behaviour, and impulsive behaviour. Efforts should be made to identify children whose attitudes and behaviours put them at risk and cause problems to others, and then put resources into remedying the inadequate socialisation that led to this situation.
Abstract