Young pedestrians and young cyclists.

The child accident rate in Europe is discussed. Children are often inexperienced and have not yet full acquired the skills they require to deal with traffic, even if they have received education in road safety. Child casualties often have emotional and behavioural problems that may last 2 years or longer. The behaviour of parents and drivers towards children is often inadequate. Accidents involving children peak when they have just begun to use a new traffic mode. In the Netherlands, these peaks are at ages 7 (pedestrians), 12-15 (cyclists), 16 (moped riders), and 21 (drivers). Fatality peaks occur at a lower age than non-fatal injury levels. Detailed accident analyses show that accidents tend to occur near parked cars, when playing on the roadway, during school journeys, when stepping out of cars/buses, and in urban areas. Knowledge of traffic concepts in 4- to 6-year-olds is imprecise. Information processing abilities develop up to about age 15 and reaction time to visual or auditory information develops from age 3 to 16. Young children are easily distracted and resistance to distraction is not fully developed until about age 15. Risk perception for the possibility of hidden traffic does not develop until age 9. Assessment of traffic gap size is difficult below the age of 8, and children wait for larger gaps than adults. Child cyclist accidents are categorised. Child cyclists below the age of 12 behave more carefully than adolescent cyclists but are less likely to maintain a straight course and place too much trust in other road users. Engineering and design for child traffic safety is discussed and recommendations include reducing visual obstacles at the roadside or the introduction of home zones, traffic restraint, playgrounds close to the homes of children, and planning design to prevent through traffic in residential developments. Cyclists should be encouraged to wear conspicuous clothing. The play space requirements of children of different ages are outlined. Textbooks and catalogues for engineering and the design of countermeasures are reviewed.