Adult pedestrian accident data has demonstrated that the risk of being killed or seriously injured varies with age and gender. A range of factors affecting road crossing choices of 218 adults aged 17-90+ were examined in a simulation study using filmed real traffic. With increasing age, women were shown to make more unsafe crossing decisions, to leave small safety margins and to become poorer at estimating their walking speed. However, the age effects on all of these were ameliorated by driving experience. Men differed from women in that age was not a major factor in predicting unsafe crossing decisions. Rather, reduced mobility was the key factor, leading them to make more unsafe crossings and delay longer in leaving the kerb. For men, driving experience did not predict unsafe road crossing decisions. Although male drivers were more likely to look both ways before crossing than male non-drivers, the impact of being a driver had a negative effect in terms of smaller safety margins and delay in leaving the kerb. The implications of the different predictor variables for men and women for unsafe road crossing are discussed and possible reasons for the differences explored.
Switching attention and concentration, 2 skills expected to be used by skillful pedestrians, were studied. A sample of 160 children (aged 4 years 3 months-10 years) played a computer game involving attention switching. To examine concentration, a subset of the children was distracted with a cartoon video while they attempted a difficult task that required matching familiar figures. The same subset was also observed crossing roads. Older children switched faster and were less distracted. Children who were better at switching were more likely to show awareness of traffic when about to cross a road. Children who maintained concentration when challenged by a distracting event crossed the road in a less reckless manner. Parents and educators designing safety programs should take into account the development of these skills.
Self-identity as a careful pedestrian has not been fully considered in previous work on predicting intention to cross the road, or actual crossing behaviour, in non-optimal situations. Evidence suggests that self-identity may be a better predictor than attitudes in situations where decision-making styles have become habitual ways to respond. This study compared contributions of self-identity and attitudes to the prediction of intentions in two situations differing in level of habitual crossing expectation, and to crossing behaviour. Three hundred and sixty-two adults (17-92 years) completed a questionnaire measuring self-identity, attitudes, intentions, experience, social identity variables (e.g. age, gender) and personal limitations (mobility). Two hundred and five participants also completed a road-crossing simulation. Self-identity and attitude were both shown as significant independent predictors of intention in both situations. However, self-identity was less effective as a predictor in the higher risk scenario, where intention to perform the behaviour was lower, and for participants aged >75 years who had lower intention across scenarios. Self-identity strongly predicted intention to cross, which in turn predicted behaviour, but self-identity did not directly predict behaviour. Self-identity was strongly predicted by age. Implications for theories of compensation in older age and for design and targeting of pedestrian safety education are discussed.
The relationship between parent‐child interaction and child pedestrian behaviour was investigated by comparing parent‐child communication to road‐crossing behaviour. Forty‐four children and their parents were observed carrying out a communication task (the Map Task), and were covertly filmed crossing roads around a university campus. The Map Task provided measures of task focus and sensitivity to another's current knowledge, which we predicted would be reflected in road‐crossing behaviour. We modelled indices of road behaviour with factor scores derived from a principal‐component analysis of communication features, and background variables including the age, sex and traffic experience of the child, and parental education. A number of variables were significantly related to road crossing, including the age and sex of the child, the length of the conversation, and specific conversational features such as the checking and clarification of uncertain information by both parent and child. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
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