Child-Pedestrian Traffic Safety at Crosswalks—Literature Review

Abstract

Child pedestrians make up 30% of the total number of children injured in road traffic in the EU. They are a particularly vulnerable subgroup because they exhibit specific traffic behavior related to cognitive and physical development, sociodemographic characteristics, and environmental conditions. This paper provides an overview of research of parameters that affect the safety of children in the conflict zones of the intersection—crosswalks. The overview was undertaken targeting available research mostly conducted in the last 10 years all over the world, related to the identification of parameters that affect the safety of child-pedestrians, and models developed for the prediction of pedestrian and child-pedestrian behavior. Research conducted on various urban networks provides insight into locally and more widely applicable impact parameters connected to child characteristics and infrastructural and traffic elements, but also distractors (e.g., electronic devices) as new phenomena influencing children’s road safety. A review of pedestrian behavior-prediction models suggests that models are being developed for the general population, and models for children’s behavior, with specific parameters, are missing. For further research, more detailed analysis of the impact of distractors and of COVID–19 pandemic non-mobility, as well as an analysis of possible infrastructural solutions to increase children’s road traffic safety, is suggested.

Injury and fatality risks for child pedestrians and cyclists on public roads

“…A young child may dart out or run into the street to retrieve a toy or a ball or to cross the street with a lack of attention to the oncoming traffic. An older child may be cognitively capable of making traffic safety decisions, though they may misjudge speed, distance, and acceleration, and may engage in risky behaviors, such as walking while distracted or using their smartphones (Deluka-Tibljaš et al 2022). We also found that the fatality risk was increased for child cyclists aged 0-19 due to cyclist midblock-failure to yield.…”

“…Education and enforcement may also target driver behaviors, such as slowing down and yielding to pedestrians/cyclists, following speed limits, never driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, and other recommended behaviors to ensure safety (National Center for Statistics and Analysis 2020a, b; Stevenson et al 2015). Parental and adult supervision encourages children to walk slowly and engage in less risky behavior (Deluka-Tibljaš et al 2022). Further, engineering can support changes to the built environment, including measures such as building sidewalks and well-lit streets, reducing traffic speed and volume, and adding speed bumps and roundabouts to reduce injury (Cloutier et al 2021), as well as features of the motor vehicle (e.g., backup cameras, blind-spot detection, lane departure technology, and advanced sensor technology that can prevent collision).…”

Fundamental Analysis of the Ages of Children and Road Structures Involved in Traffic Accidents

“…Head-swinging increased toward the entry point of the crosswalk and at the crossing point. Deluka-Tibljaš et al took up a study summary carried out in the world about the road safety of walking children at pedestrian crossings in the past 10 years [10]. For a further study, we suggested that the influence on road safety of the children was analyzed by distractions in detail.…”