Study shows how virtual reality could train children to become adult pedestrians

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2012 and 2021, 922 American children ages 7 to 12 were killed in pedestrian crashes. With traffic crashes being the leading cause of death among children worldwide, teaching young people proper street-crossing techniques is essential to ensuring they are prepared to navigate safely and confidently on foot.

David Schwebel, Ph.D., associate vice president for research facilities and infrastructure at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has developed a virtual reality kiosk simulator immersive and a smartphone mobile application to provide repeated street crossing exercises and overcome the ethical barriers of training children for real-world traffic.

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Schwebel used this technology in his study to answer two questions: How much training do children need to become adults who can cross the street? And what might help children acquire this skill earlier? The research is published in the Journal of Safety Research.

“Our study results show that on average, it took 10 sessions, or five hours of training, for children to master adult-level pedestrian behavior,” said Schwebel, who is also director of the UAB Youth Safety Lab in the College of Arts and Sciences. “There was no clear indication that traits that some children may possess, such as strong cognitive or perceptual skills, were critical to learning the skills. Every child learned.”

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The randomized trial studied 500 children ages 7 and 8. Participants attended 30-minute training sessions in which they were randomly assigned to either the kiosk simulator or the smartphone app, both of which presented a two-lane, two-way street. Participants were asked to decide when it was safe to cross the street, and both the kiosk and the mobile app provided verbal feedback on the safety of their decision.

Taking all the measured variables together, the study found that the only factor that led to faster acquisition of pedestrian skills was the child's age. Older children mastered pedestrian skills slightly faster than younger children, but almost all of the children in the study acquired adult pedestrian skills.

Health organizations have previously said that children should remain supervised in pedestrian scenarios until age 10, but Schwebel says that age could be lower with proper training.

“Our results suggest that children can learn to cross streets safely – at least the basic two-lane crossing we tested – at a younger age,” Schwebel said. “Children’s minds are developing and their brains have the capacity to learn the rather complex cognitive and perceptual task of judging traffic by age 7.”

“This is important because it means we can train children at an earlier age and protect them from risks when they walk to school or play with friends in their neighborhood.”

Parents can help their 7- and 8-year-old children learn about pedestrian safety by discussing safety issues when crossing the street with their children or when they are together in a parking lots by practicing looking both ways and showing children how to watch for traffic and judge the speed of oncoming cars.

Younger children can learn to press the crosswalk button when they are at an intersection. Virtual reality can be another great tool for children to learn about pedestrian safety as they can cross streets multiple times without the risk of getting hurt.

“Technology is changing our world,” Schwebel said. “We can use virtual reality to give kids the practice they need to judge the speed and distances of vehicles and learn to choose when it’s safe to pull into a space.” of traffic and cross the Street. It may seem like a futuristic or expensive tool; but we can deliver it on a smartphone placed in a plastic holder at 10 $, and that is enough to help children learn to cross streets safely.

Parents should continue to monitor their children and assess their skill level before allowing them to ride on roads unsupervised.

More information : David C. Schwebel et al, Child pedestrian safety training in virtual reality: How quickly do children reach adult functional and what individual differences impact learning efficiency?, Journal of Safety Research (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jsr.2024.01.012