Road safety for children

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33032, 27 September 1972, Page 7

Road safety for children

(By

HELEN HOWARD)

LONDON. Despite all their efforts, parents, schools, and safety organisations are losing the battle to keep children from coming to grief on the roads. And the reason? According to scientists, children just don’t understand or absorb a tenth of what they’re told, however much it is dinned into them. The tragedy of the situation is that when it comes to vital facts like the road code, misunderstanding can be fatal . . . and the results speak for themselves. More than 40 per cent of accidents to pedestrians now involve children under 15. Where are we going wrong? From the latest research, it is clear that grownups are failing to appreciate that children just do not have the experience to cope with situations in the same way as adults. Researchers have found that a child sees the world in a different way from his elders, and this conditions his reactions. Professor Stina Sandels, an educational psychologist in Sweden says that while an adult “sees” with his entire “person” and in the light of past experience, the often-fatal miscalculations of small children in traffic occur because they cannot draw on the same experience. In other words, a child of six does not really believe that an oncoming car will hit him. For he simply doesn’t have the experience to go by. Studies at university centres in Britain, America and Europe have now proved beyond doubt that, up to the

age of eight or nine, a child cannot be relied on to know his left hand from his right. And before the age of seven, neither can a child judge the speed or distance of an approaching car. Indeed, until he is six or seven, he cannot even tell from which direction a sound is coming. And as if all this is not enough, it has also been shown that young children misinterpret road signs. In a recent survey, the standard European sign showing running children—a school nearby—was interpreted by 70 per cent of under-sevens as an instruction for them to start running. But perhaps the most disturbing feature of the latest research is that traditional kerb drill is actually encouraging accidents. The children will stand on the kerb, religiously follow the instructions, and then step out . . . regardless of whether anything is coming. They believe that carrying out the kerbside procedure makes them immune to an accident. Just as frightening is that most youngsters regard a road accident as no more than a passing incident. In a recent school project on road safety, one infant wrote: "Naughty Johnny didn’t look when he crossed the road, and was knocked down and killed by a bus. Next week, he came back to school . . .” To the infant mind, death has no finality. Parents, safety experts and psychologists are concluding that they vastly over-estimate their children’s ability to cope with traffic. This has been borne out

by the findings of a new British survey, “Children and Road Safety: a Survey among Mothers.” Fifty per cent of the mothers interviewed said they would allow a five-year-old cross a busy street; 37 per cent a four-year-old, and 19 per cent a three-year-old. A further nine per cent actually said they would allow a two-year-old toddler to cross the street on his own. Yet even a five-year-old has only the haziest idea of what he is doing. Educationalists also point out that children are very easily distracted. A child, they say, can stand by a kerb for hours, apparently hypnotised by the passing traffic. Then he will see something on the other side of the road that attracts his attention and, forgetting all his training, he will make a dash for it. So what can be done? A leading psychologist, involved in the university studies, offers this advice to parents and teachers . . . Do not overestimate your child’s ability. Remember that children up to the age of 13 or 14 are unable to form reliable judgments based on past experience, and will often behave unpredictably. Do not send a younger child out in the care of an older brother or sister under 14. The responsibility of the younger child disturbs the concentration of the older one. Keep a close eye on your children when they go out on the streets. Above all, do not expect them to behave like adults. The chances are they won’t. —Features International.