Look Both Ways

Old School: Look to the left, look to the right, look to the left again and then cross.

New School: Look left, look straight into the intersection, look right and repeat before crossing the street

Crossing the road safely is a little more complicated these days than it used to be, but for good reason. Child pedestrian incidents are a leading cause of injury-related death for children under the age of 14, and unfortunately spring’s warm weather brings more child-pedestrian injuries and deaths than any other time of year. Safe Kids Canada’s Safe Kids Week (May 26 – June 1), is focused on Safe Roads, Safe Kids this year. And from the stats, it looks like it’s something we can all get better at, adult and child alike.

Small Cars Do Not Necessarily Go Faster than Big Cars
But kids think they do. It’s because they don’t have the overall cognitive, physical, sensory and auditory development to manage the potential danger (i.e. they can’t judge when a car will be close to them based on the speed it is travelling) and their lower eye-level limits their field of vision, decreasing their perception and ability to deal with oncoming traffic. Furthermore, they may not be able to identify colours and thus traffic signs and signals and their natural self-centeredness (definitely applies to our kids!) means they have a hard time believing that a driver could not see them. Crossing streets is a complex task—planning the route, detecting traffic, making decisions about the speed and distance away of vehicles, and ultimately whether or not to cross—and children are unable to grasp these concepts without repeated and reinforced guidance from parents and caregivers. 

Practice Makes Perfect
Every time you’re out for a walk with your children, use it as an opportunity to talk to them about safe walking. Being a safe pedestrian is a learned skill—children need to be taught the lessons and then practice in a variety of road situations:

• Know the rules of the road yourself and always set a good example.
• Discuss safety information every single time you are walking with your kids.
• Make “look left, look straight into the intersection, look right, look left, look straight, look right” their sidewalk mantra. Make up a song if it helps.
• Insist that they always cross at the intersection.
• For small children just ‘out of the stroller’, teach them about the ‘safe side’ i.e. the side of the sidewalk further away from the traffic and be adamant that they walk on that side and hold your hand or the stroller (if you have a younger sibling on board).
• Explain to children that they are more likely to be hit by cars where there is high traffic volume, a lot of parked cars on the street (they block a driver’s view), higher speed limits, and few alternative play areas such as parks.
• Under an adult’s supervision, give children an opportunity to make street crossing decisions. (Is it safe to cross now? How about now?)
• Keep it up—you probably know that it’s never too young to start teaching the rules of the road but you might not know that it’s important not to stop until kids reach adolescence (between age 10 and 14 is the most common age for child pedestrian accidents). And only you as the parent will know when your child is ready to walk alone. (After all that practicing together, you should have a good sense.)
• Remind them to be extra aware when weather conditions are different (e.g. fog or rain), when they are taking a new route and of course when it’s their first time walking alone.

And for the drivers among us (isn’t that a mom’s real job?), keep this Safe Kids Canada stat in mind: a child hit by a car travelling at 50 km/h has an 80 per cent chance of being killed, while a child hit by a car travelling at 30 km/h has up to a 95 per cent chance of surviving.

So slow down when driving in a school zone, near parks or streets where children play…it’s definitely not a waste of time.

For more information, visit www.safekidscanada.ca to download a free copy of their Safe Roads, Safe Kids educational brochure for parents and caregivers.

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