Traffic from a Child's Point of View

• There are 26 judgment skills needed to cross a street safely; this is a very complicated task.
• Until a child is about 8 years of age, it is difficult for them to assess whether a vehicle is moving or not.
• Children have difficulty judging the speed and distance of cars.
• When a child sees an approaching car, the first thing they note is the colour of the car; they are not thinking about how fast that car is travelling.
• Children assume that cars can stop instantly.
• Children think that if they can see a car, the driver can see them.
• Children perceive big cars as travelling faster than small cars.
• Children perceive wide streets as dangerous and narrow streets as safe.
• Children make potentially dangerous decisions about “safe gaps” in traffic. They do not have the ability to estimate whether there is enough time to cross the road.
• A child’s peripheral vision is not fully developed; their field of vision is one third narrower than that of an adult,
• Children have difficulty discriminating the direction of sounds.
• Children are easily distracted when searching for traffic; they concentrate on one thing at a time, often focusing on what is of interest to them at the moment.
• Children have no sense of danger – they intertwine fantasy and reality and tend to overestimate their knowledge and physical strength.
• Most pedestrian traffic injuries occur to 5-9 years at mid-blocking crossings, and 10 -14 year olds at intersections.
• Speaking with children about traffic rules does not lead to safer behaviours. Walking with children and negotiating neighbourhood streets with them provides an experience and opportunity to develop traffic safety awareness, and to practice safe pedestrian behavious.