A REVIEW OF ROAD SAFETY RESEARCH ON CHILDREN AS PEDESTRIANS: How Far Can We Go towards Improving Their Safety?

摘要

Road traffic accidents are an important cause of death and injury to children. In Britain child pedestrian casualties make up by far the largest group of casualties to children. In 1994, 4,610 child pedestrians, 1,562 children who were passengers in or on motor vehicles, and 1,234 children who were riding pedal cycles were killed or seriously injured. Almost a quarter (21.1%) of deaths in the age group 5-15 years resulted from a traffic accident, compared to 10.7% as a result of other types of injury, and 68.2% as a result of non-injuries. The importance of such figures is increasingly being recognised by safety researchers and practitioners. A considerable amount of work is being undertaken to establish ways of reducing this annual toll. This paper draws together research from a number of sources, both in Britain and elsewhere, and aims to identify some of the principle characteristics and circumstances of child pedestrian accidents as well as considering the underlying causes. A summary is given of the major problems facing child pedestrians as road users and the solutions currently open to researchers, policy makers and practitioners to resolve these problems. The potential of different approaches to achieving gains in safety, ranging from direct and indirect measures to change driver behaviour to means of increasing children's knowledge and understanding of the dangers of the road system are considered. The implications of such solutions on the children themselves, on their parents, and on other road users are examined. The paper concludes with an overall assessment of the improvements to safety which could be made and the costs to society of undertaking such changes.