Brief report: Increasing children's safe pedestrian behaviors through simple skills training

Abstract

Objectives: Hundreds of American children are killed and thousands more injured annually as pedestrians. Simple and effective interventions targeting behavioral changes in children are needed. Methods: The present study tested a simple, skill-based training method for increasing safe pedestrian behaviors. Eighty-five children ages 5-8 participated. Results: Children behaved more safely following training, indicating very brief training can produce at least short-term improvements in pedestrian behaviors. Conclusions: Results are discussed with regard to the involvement of parents in the practical application of a simple training procedure and future directions for pedestrian interventions. © The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved.