Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
Ann Glob Health. 2017 Mar-Apr;83(2):328-332. doi: 10.1016/j.aogh.2017.04.004. Epub 2017 May 25.
About 100,000 children die worldwide in pedestrian crashes, more than 90% of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, most existing research on children's ability to cross the street is conducted in high-income countries (HICs).
The present study discusses 4 ways pedestrian behavior in LMICs differs from that in HICs, influencing both children's ability to cross streets safely and adult efforts to train children in pedestrian safety.
First, in many LMICs one cannot simply wait for a traffic gap that is large enough to permit crossing at a typical walking pace. Instead, pedestrians must enter traffic gaps they deem large enough to permit the oncoming driver to stop, slow, or swerve around them. Second, decisions in LMICs must be made very quickly to maximize safety. In many cases, pedestrians must anticipate how oncoming drivers will behave as a crossing is initiated. Third, multilane LMIC crossings sometimes involve separated decisions to cross each lane and then evaluate safety in the middle of the roadway rather than making a single decision to cross the entire span within a safe traffic gap. Last, children's short stature may substantially influence behavior in LMIC settings. When gaps are small and open spaces limited, the ability to see over oncoming vehicles and perceive them approaching, including how spread they are and at what speeds they are traveling, offers a distinct advantage to the taller pedestrian CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, it is concluded that safe child pedestrian engagement in LMICs is more complex, and may require more developed cognitive skill, than safe child pedestrian engagement in HICs.
全世界约有 10 万名儿童死于行人事故，其中超过 90%的儿童生活在中低收入国家（LMICs）。然而，大多数关于儿童过马路能力的现有研究都是在高收入国家（HICs）进行的。
本研究讨论了 4 种方式，这些方式表明 LMICs 中的行人行为与 HICs 中的行人行为不同，这会影响儿童安全过马路的能力以及成年人对儿童进行行人安全教育的努力。
首先，在许多 LMICs 中，人们不能简单地等待一个足够大的交通间隙，以便以典型的步行速度过马路。相反，行人必须进入他们认为足够大的交通间隙，以便迎面而来的司机能够停下来、减速或绕过他们。其次，在 LMICs 中，必须迅速做出决定，以最大限度地提高安全性。在许多情况下，行人必须在开始过马路时预测迎面而来的司机的行为。第三，多车道 LMIC 交叉口有时涉及分别决定穿过每条车道，然后在道路中间评估安全性，而不是在安全的交通间隙内做出一次穿过整个车道的决定。最后，儿童身材矮小可能会极大地影响 LMIC 环境中的行为。当间隙较小且开放空间有限时，能够看到迎面而来的车辆并感知它们的靠近，包括它们的宽度以及它们行驶的速度，这对较高的行人有明显的优势。
综上所述，可以得出结论，与 HICs 相比，LMICs 中儿童安全参与行人交通更为复杂，可能需要更发达的认知技能。
