What's the right age for a child to cross the road alone?
It might surprise you to learn this, but it's not safe for kids to cross the road by themselves until they're 14 years old, according to new research.
Forfar Dispatch reports:
A study using a simulated virtual traffic environment showed accident rates can reach as high as eight percent among six year-olds.
Even those aged 12 were struck by vehicles two percent of the time - and had to compensate for their lack of judgement by choosing bigger gaps in traffic.
It was not until early adolescence youngsters got across without incident, according to the findings published in Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.
In a way I'm not surprised by this – living near a school, I've observed countless youngsters crossing the road on their way to and from school, and I'm frequently alarmed by how little road sense many children seem to have.
Indeed, crossing roads alone is one of the things I most worry about when it comes to keeping my own kids safe. And of course most kids are trusted by their parents to cross the road without adult supervision long before their 14th birthday.
I know I've drummed into them the essentials of keeping safe on the roads, but you only have to observe a kid momentarily distracted to see that all sense seems to leave their minds at such times.
Factor in that kids seem to regard themselves as invincible, and it makes perfect sense to me that, statistically-speaking at least, kids may not be truly capable of crossing the road safely until the age of 14.
A recommendation arising from this study is for parents to teach children patience when it comes to waiting to cross the road. It's also recommended that parents encourage youngsters ones to choose adequate gaps between vehicles before stepping into the road in order to cross it.
What's your view? Do you agree with this data?
And how have you instilled road safety into your kids? Is it something that concerns you as a parent?
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