Identifying 'at-risk' child pedestrians and improving their road crossing skills.

This paper presents the findings of a two-phased study that examined the factors that may increase pedestrian crash risk amongst 6-10 year old children, identified ‘at-risk’ children and developed and evaluated a practical and innovative educational and training program using an interactive simulator program. The findings suggest that ‘at-risk’ groups include younger children, those who have poor perception, attentional and cognitive skills, hyperactive, inattentive and easily distracted children, and those with little traffic exposure. A beneficial effect of the training program on proportion of critically incorrect crossing responses was found, particularly amongst ‘at-risk’ children. The results show that the training program is a safe and effective way to improve children’s road-crossing skills. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E217713.