Young children's learning on road‐crossing simulations

Abstract

Previous studies have characterised young children as unskilled road-users. Provision of training and practice in basic road-crossing skills may reduce children's risk on the roads, as increasing automatisation of these skills will free attentional resources for more demanding aspects of road-user behaviour. Previous work by Lee and colleagues suggests that training on a road-crossing simulation called the Pretend Road improves various aspects of young children's road-crossing skill. The present investigation extends these findings by reporting on the generalisability and durability of these improvements. Five-year-old children were trained on one of two road-crossing simulations and assessed on three occasions after training. The results indicate that substantial transfer occurs between training tasks, but long-term retention appears to be weak.

Influence of Virtual Reality Training on the Roadside Crossing Judgments of Child Pedestrians.

“…By using the "pretend road" method (in which children observed traffic on a real road but crossed an adjacent "pretend" one), Lee et al (1984) estimated that only 9% of children's crossings could be considered tight fits, which compared favorably with the 7% made by adults. Studies that have used comparable roadside methodologies have reported similar rates (e.g., Demetre et al, 1992;Demetre et al, 1993;Young & Lee, 1987). Indeed, far from finding a bias toward hazardous decision making, these studies all report a bias in the opposite direction, with children missing many perfectly safe opportunities to cross.…”

“…Indeed, far from finding a bias toward hazardous decision making, these studies all report a bias in the opposite direction, with children missing many perfectly safe opportunities to cross. This tendency was so marked that Demetre et al (1993) were sometimes forced to admonish children for missing opportunities in order to get them to make crossing decisions at all. Studies that have used unobtrusive observation to assess children's road crossing under natural conditions have also revealed surprisingly low numbers of hazardous decisions (e.g., Routledge, Howarth, & Repetto-Wright, 1976).…”

“…Such behavior points to crude strategic thinking and decision making, rather than limited perceptual abilities, as the key problem in novice pedestrians. Correspondingly, shifts in the former aspects of performance are by far the most commonly reported improvements following roadside training, making trained children's behavior more like that of adults (Demetre et al, , 1993Whitebread & Neilson, 2000;Young & Lee, 1987). If this is correct, then training needs to offer more than opportunities for sensory-motor practice: It needs to address children's conceptual thinking about the task and the strategies they use to solve it.…”

Preventing childhood unintentional injuries--what works? A literature review.

“…Other programmes using simulated road environments have also shown improved crossing skills in groups receiving instruction. [34][35][36][37][38] Programmes involving observations of children crossing in real road environments have also resulted in improved crossing behaviour.39 While it is clear that crossing roads demands a large number of skills, many of these programmes focused on single or groups of target skills, such as identifying safe places to cross or safe gaps in the traffic. It is not easy to decide whether improvement in specific skills will protect a child from injury on the roads.…”

Socialisation au risque et construction sociale des comportements de l’enfant piéton : éléments de réflexion pour l’éducation routière

“…Les chercheurs se sont également interrogés sur les contenus éducatifs à utiliser et sur les outils appropriés pour développer certaines compétences particulières, en particulier le choix de site de traversée et l'estimation des espaces intervéhiculaires ; Demetre, Lee, Grieve, Pitcairn, Ampofo Boateng et Thomson, 1993). La situation éducative elle-même est étudiée en termes de contenus et de composition sociale favorable à l'apprentissage.…”