Demands on attention affect children’s safety

Children are good at staying alert in traffic – at least when moving in familiar environments. Previous research has asserted that a child’s age significantly influences their ‘traffic maturity’. New research, however, has found that a child’s age does not affect whether they can obtain enough information about the traffic – rather the traffic environment’s design is key.

These are the findings of Senior Research Leader Katja Kircher and her colleagues as part of a project on active transport for children. Researchers have explored how a child’s age affects their traffic awareness. Sixty-two children spanning the early years of compulsory schooling to upper-secondary school were studied as they walked or cycled to school.

‘Both younger and older children were generally sufficiently alert, and the mistakes they made tended to be the same regardless of their age’.

The children studied were given eye-tracking glasses that measure eye movement. Those who cycled were also given a front-facing camera mounted on their handlebars. The researchers followed the children from a distance, filming them from behind all the way from their homes to their schools.

Road junctions close to schools were also filmed in conjunction with the start of the school day, to be used in the study. This material enabled an analysis of more than 800 other children and adolescents’ traffic behaviour.

Katja Kircher finds it fascinating to watch the way groups move in traffic,

‘When children and adults walk or cycle in groups, some individuals may demonstrate a low awareness of the traffic conditions, yet the group as a whole is just as aware as a solo road user. There is always someone paying attention to the traffic. Whoever that may be may depend on their age or position in the group’.

Does group behaviour influence how we adults view children out in traffic?

‘Yes, to some extent it is likely that we form our understanding on children road users based on how they behave when they are with us. When children walk or cycle with us, they trust that we are paying attention to the traffic. However, when they are alone they take responsibility and are more alert. For example, if a child is unfamiliar with the road rules, they will often hesitate and allow cars to pass at pedestrian crossings, even though the driver must stop and let the child cross’.

The long-term goal of this project is to create a safer traffic environment for children who are independent road users that cycle or walk either with or without their peers. It is essential that infrastructure is designed in such a way that it does not place too many demands on a person to remain alert to multiple directions at once. The fewer simultaneous requirements placed on a person, the safer the traffic environment. This applies to all road users, but is particularly the case for children.

The study was financed by Länsförsäkringars Forskningsfond.

Text: Hillevi Ternström

Translation: CBG