Pedestrian Safety
 Children are particularly vulnerable to pedestrian injuries because they are exposed to traffic threats that exceed their cognitive, developmental, behavioral, physical, and sensory abilities.
This is made worse by the fact that parents often overestimate their children’s pedestrian skills.
Children are impulsive and have difficulty judging speed, spatial relations, and distance. Hearing and sight acuity, depth perception and proper scanning ability develop gradually and do not fully mature until at least age 10.
What You Can Do
Prevention begins with you! There are a few easy steps that you can take to make sure kids are safe when walking:
- Make sure children younger than 10 cross the street with an adult.
- Teach children to cross the street at a corner.
- Make sure children use crosswalks whenever possible and obey traffic signals.
- Teach children to look left, right and left again when crossing a street and to continue looking for cars as they cross.
- Dress children in clothing with reflective materials and teach them to carry a flashlight when it's dark or getting dark outside.
More About Pedestrian Safety
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Pedestrian Safety Fact
In 2005, 566 children ages 14 and under died from accidental pedestrian injuries. |
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