Reading the Road: The Influence of Age and Sex on Child Pedestrians' Perceptions of Road Risk

The United Kingdom has one of the highest records of child pedestrian accidents in the European Union, with statistics showing boys are especially vulnerable. This paper investigated whether there were identifiable developmental or sex differences in the perception of road risk, which might explain the occurrence of such child pedestrian accidents. The study was a between-participants experimental design with 3 independent variables: age, sex, and task. The sample included 119 school-age children in 3 age groups (7-8 years; 9-10 years; and 11-12 years) with equal sex distribution in each age group. All children, tested individually, completed 2 sorting tasks. The tasks differed in that children first classified 20 photographs of road scenes on self-selected criteria (free sort) and then reclassified the scenes on the basis of safety of each scene (cued sort). When children operated a free sort, age differences were apparent in both the number and type of categories produced. However, this age variation was not apparent for the cued sort showing that the younger children were strongly influenced by cueing. Younger children exhibited a more personal, idiosyncratic perspective of the road compared to older children, who were able to view the road from global perspectives. Sex differences in assessing safety were limited but interesting, demonstrating that the males focused on physical attributes of the scene and females on the actors within the scene. The focus of females on the dynamic attributes of the scene may be a partial explanation of their greater safety record compared to their male peers.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00071269
• Authors:
  • Underwood, Jean
  • Dillon, Gayle
  • Farnsworth, Bill
  • Twiner, Alison
• Publication Date: 2007-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Appendices; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 93-110
• Serial:
  • British Journal of Psychology
  • Volume: 98
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: British Psychological Society
  • ISSN: 0007-1269

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age; Children; Crash risk forecasting; Gender; High risk drivers; Pedestrians; Perception; Risk assessment; Risk taking; Traffic safety
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01079632
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 22 2007 10:16AM