It's important to acknowledge the physical and psychological limitations of young children that make it difficult for them to handle crossing the street. Before the age of nine, children don't have the ability to cross the street alone.
Developmental and cognitive considerations:
Children tend to think that since they have been waiting for so long, it's their turn; that since they are good, they will be treated well or even that the street crossing protects them. They believe that since “I see her, she sees me," humanizing the car.
Children have difficulty distinguishing between right and left and the necessity of looking in all directions, causing confusion when they have to decide when to cross the street.
Children's ability to assess distance and speed is limited. They can’t connect the size of the object to its distance and translate ‘big and small’ into ‘near and far.”
Children have difficulty remembering relevant details and data. When a child wants to cross the street and looks at all directions, the data chosen for the decision will be defective.
Children might overly depend on other factors and less on themselves while using the roads. For example, while crossing, they think that the approaching vehicle can stop regardless of the circumstances and are unaware that a car can't stop immediately.
Physical considerations:
Children lack the ability to evaluate distance until the age of six or seven and the ability to remember the relevant measurements even later on.
Children’s visual perception is limited by their height, their sight and their inability to quickly change their focal point from near to far.
Many children under the age of seven have low hearing sensitivity and difficulty in locating the source of the sound. In addition, children around this age are much more easily distracted than adults by irrelevant sounds.
Emotional considerations:
Young children have difficulty controlling sudden urges, a necessity when using the roads. Often children evaluate a situation while running into the street, unlike adults, who evaluate it before reaching the edge of the sidewalk. Children tend to be impulsive and run across the street, relying on their speed.
Children often have limited sense of self protection and risk. A child does not understand the meaning of being hurt and does not understand the finiteness of death.
Beterem – Israel’s National Center for Children's Safety and Health recommends that children under the age of nine be accompanied by an adult, since they don't have the ability to cross the street alone safely.
Safety recommendations to emphasize and practice with the child:
Before crossing the street:
· Look at all directions from which a car can come – right and left, front and back.
· Make sure all the cars have stopped.
· Make eye contact with drivers and make sure they see the child.
· Walk across the street. Don’t run.
· Cross only when the light is green.
Once you decide your child is ready to walk to school alone, Beterem highly recommends picking and practicing a safe route together.
This Health Tip courtesy of Beterem – Israel’s National Center for Children's Safety and Health.