VTT, P.O. Box 1000, FIN-02044 VTT, Finland; Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden.
Accid Anal Prev. 2014 Jan;62:406-14. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2013.06.013. Epub 2013 Jun 18.
Our cities should be designed to accommodate everybody, including children. We will not move toward a more sustainable society unless we accept that children are people with transportation needs, and 'bussing' them around, or providing parental limousine services at all times, will not lead to sustainability. Rather, we will need to make our cities walkable for children, at least those above a certain age. Safety has two main aspects, traffic safety and personal safety (risk of assault). Besides being safe, children will also need an urban environment with reasonable mobility, where they themselves can reach destinations with reasonable effort; else they will still need to be driven. This paper presents the results of two expert questionnaires focusing on the potential safety and mobility benefits to child pedestrians of targeted types of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Five different types of functional requests for children were identified based on previous work. The first expert questionnaire was structured to collect expert opinions on which ITS solutions or devices would be, and why, the most relevant ones to satisfy the five different functional requests of child pedestrians. Based on the first questionnaire, fifteen problem areas were defined. In the second questionnaire, the experts ranked the fifteen areas, and prioritized related ITS services, according to their potential for developing ITS services beneficial to children. Several ITS systems for improving pedestrian quality are discussed. ITS services can be used when a pedestrian route takes them to a dangerous street, dangerous crossing point or through a dangerous neighborhood. An improvement of safety and other qualities would lead to increased mobility and a more sustainable way of living. Children would learn how to live to support their own health and a sustainable city environment. But it will be up to national, regional and local governments, through their ministries and agencies and public works departments, to promote, fund, and possibly mandate such systems. It is clear that we need to offer an acceptable level of convenience, efficiency, comfort, safety and security to pedestrians but it is less clear if society will prioritize resources toward this.
我们的城市应该能够容纳所有人，包括儿童。除非我们承认儿童是有交通需求的人，并且“接送”他们或随时提供父母的豪华轿车服务不会导致可持续性，否则我们无法迈向更可持续的社会。相反，我们需要让我们的城市对儿童来说更适合步行，至少对于一定年龄以上的儿童来说是这样。安全有两个主要方面，交通安全和人身安全（袭击风险）。除了安全之外，儿童还需要一个具有合理通行能力的城市环境，在这个环境中，他们自己可以用合理的努力到达目的地；否则他们仍然需要被接送。本文介绍了两份专家问卷的结果，重点关注了针对儿童行人的特定类型智能交通系统（ITS）的潜在安全和出行效益。根据之前的工作，确定了五种不同类型的儿童功能请求。第一个专家问卷旨在收集专家意见，了解哪些 ITS 解决方案或设备最相关，可以满足儿童行人的五种不同功能请求，以及为什么这些方案或设备最相关。根据第一个问卷，定义了十五个问题领域。在第二个问卷中，专家根据其对开发有利于儿童的 ITS 服务的潜力，对十五个领域进行了排名，并对相关的 ITS 服务进行了优先级排序。讨论了几种改善行人质量的智能交通系统。当行人路线带他们到危险的街道、危险的交叉点或通过危险的社区时，可以使用 ITS 服务。提高安全性和其他质量将提高出行能力，促进更可持续的生活方式。儿童将学习如何生活，以支持他们自己的健康和可持续的城市环境。但这将取决于国家、地区和地方政府，通过他们的部委和机构以及公共工程部门，来推广、资助，并且可能强制推行这些系统。很明显，我们需要为行人提供可接受的便利性、效率、舒适性、安全性和保障水平，但社会是否会将资源优先用于这一点还不太清楚。
