ABSTRACT
It is widely acknowledged that young children are over-represented in traffic accidents. It is therefore obvious that reducing the number of child pedestrian accidents is an important research aim. Through the introduction of (additional) pedestrian facilities, specific traffic regulation and other improvements to roadway situations, the problem of children's traffic safety may be reduced. In the end, however, such measures will only be beneficial if children's road-crossing skills are taken into account. To this end, not only is an analysis of the pedestrian task indispensable, but it also needs to be established how the (component) skill(s) of road-crossing change with age. The present chapter therefore aims to describe the age-related changes in road crossing and its component skills in 4- to 12-year-old children. Furthermore, training programmes that are directed at improving the component skills of road crossing, and that may reduce child pedestrian casualties, are reviewed. The improvements appear to be less than one would hope for, and as such we discus whether the results from simulated environments should be generalised to actual traffic situations. We will dwell on some of the more important methodological aspects (e.g. the practice environment). Although characteristics like temperament and socialisation might explain a substantial proportion of safe or unsafe road-crossing behaviour (Plumert and Schwebel, 1997; Schwebel and Plumert, 1999; West et al., 1999), these will not be taken into account. Likewise, socio-economic and environmental characteristics are beyond the scope of this chapter. Before turning to children's road-crossing skills, however, we start with an assessment of children's exposure to risk situations.
