The major aim of this investigation is to seek causal explanations for the differences in child pedestrian casualties in France, Great Britain, and Northern Ireland. This paper describes a study that evaluates and compares the different road environment exposures and the road traffic behaviour of school children (5 to 15 year old) in Northern Ireland, Great Britain, and France. This study uses a cross sectional survey incorporating questionnaires which were sent to primary school and secondary school to be completed by pupils. The findings indicate that the amount of traffic exposure (time spent near roads, road crossing experience) of children increase with age but show little differences between boys and girls. Children from the lowest socio-economical group tend to spend more time near roads (walking or playing) than other children. Older children were less likely to be accompanied by parents however this was less obvious for girls than for boys. Children are rarely allowed to walk or play near roads after twilight and spent more time playing outside and near a road during summer months than winter months. Child road behaviour appears to be safer as they grow older. This might explain lower pedestrian casualties rates for older children (11 to 15 years old) than for younger children (5 to 8 years old) despite a higher quantity of traffic exposure. It seems that there is only little difference in the amount of exposure between children in the three different countries. French children seemed to be exposed to a more dangerous environment however they seemed to be able to cope better in this environment. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.
Abstract