Author: Philip Langdon
New Urban Network
Adult pedestrians can accurately judge the speeds of vehicles traveling toward them at up to 50 mph, say researchers at Royal Holloway College, University of London, England. But for elementary school children, it’s a different matter. Children simply don’t have the perceptual ability to make an accurate judgment.
“This is not a matter of children not paying attention, but a problem related to low-level visual detection mechanisms, so even when children are paying very close attention they may fail to detect a fast approaching vehicle,”said John Wann, a professor in the university’s Department of Psychology.
Wann led researchers who measured the perceptual acuity of more than 100 elementary school pupils, the university said in a news release describing the study’s results. The judgments of children of primary school age "become unreliable once the approach speed goes above 20mph, if the car is five seconds away," the university said.
“These findings provide strong evidence that children may make risky crossing judgements when vehicles are travelling at 30 or 40 mph," Wann concluded. He emphasized that "the vehicles that they are more likely to step in front of are the faster vehicles that are more likely to result in a fatality."
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https://newurbannetwork.com/article/30-mph-traffic-too-fast-children-judge-accurately-study-finds-14515oldId.2011041517485436
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