Transactions on Transport Sciences 2018, 9(2):3-17 | DOI: 10.5507/tots.2018.011

The development of traffic competences - do children need special infrastructure to be safe in traffic?

B. Schützhofera, J. Rauchb, J. Starkc
a sicher unterwegs - Verkehrspsychologische Untersuchungen GmbH
b Allgemeine Unfallversicherungsanstalt AUVA
c University for Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Institute for Transport Studies

A lot of (visual, auditory, social, emotional, psycho-motoric, intellectual and cognitive) competences are needed for safe traffic participation. Traffic competences develop during childhood and youth and there is a close relationship to brain maturity. Based on extensive literature analysis a comprehensive tabulation of empirically based developmental milestones was developed by gathering knowledge from different disciplines (Schützhofer, Rauch, Knessl & Uhr, 2015, Schützhofer, 2017).

These milestones of traffic competences, forming the core of this paper, are now extended and updated to answer the question of how children can be aware of the traffic environment at a certain age and what this implies for their safe traffic participation. This article forms the framework for the tabulation and focuses on the development of visual competences and hazard perception. Based on the results of the literature review, it will be discussed if there are implications for infrastructure planning as well as for traffic education. Main objective of this research is the development of recommendations for age dependent safe traffic participation that do not under- or overstrain children and give them the chance to have their own active traffic experiences within adequate and safe borders.

This traffic psychological and developmental psychological knowledge is essential in various fields. The results address policymakers, traffic managers, transport planners and technicians and help them to appreciate that children are not small adults and adaptions of the existing traffic environment are needed. They can also be a starting point for the development of traffic safety workshops for pedagogues, parents and police officers as in Austria.

Keywords: Development of traffic competences; traffic education; traffic infrastructure for children; hexagon of traffic safety work; traffic sense

Received: July 31, 2018; Accepted: November 22, 2018; Prepublished online: November 22, 2018; Published: December 22, 2018  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Schützhofer, B., Rauch, J., & Stark, J. (2018). The development of traffic competences - do children need special infrastructure to be safe in traffic? Transactions on Transport Sciences, 9(2), 3-17. doi: 10.5507/tots.2018.011
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Ausserer, K., Röhsner, U. & Risser, R. (2010). Zufußgehen beginnt im Kindesalter, Wege zum und vom Kindergarten - Endbericht. Gefördert vom BMVIT. http://factum.at/PDFuDoc/EndberichtGEMMA.pdf (letzter Zugriff 06.07.2018).
    2. Frauendienst, B. & Redecker, A. (2011). Die Veränderung der selbständigen Mobilität von Kindern zwischen 1990 und 2010. Zeitschrift für Verkehrssicherheit, 4, 187-190.
    3. Hill, R., Lewis, V. & Dunbar, G.L. (2000). Young children's concepts of danger. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18, 103-119. Go to original source...
    4. Leden, L., Johansson, C., Rosander, P., Gitelman, V. & Gårder, P. (2018). Design of crosswalks for children. A synthesis of best practice. Transactions on Transport Sciences, 9(1), 20-33. doi: https://doi.org/10.5507/tots.2018.004. Go to original source...
    5. Limbourg, M. & Günther, R. (1977). Erleben und Verhalten von 4- bis 9-jährigen Kindern im Straßenverkehr. Zeitschrift für Verkehrserziehung, 1. 3-9.
    6. Limbourg, M. (2008). Kinder unterwegs im Straßenverkehr. Prävention in NRW 12. Düsseldorf: Unfallkasse Nordrhein Westfalen.
    7. Knowles, D., Schneider, F. & Robatsch, K. (2016). Schulwegpläne zur Erhöhung der Schulwegsicherheit. Zeitschrift für Verkehrsrecht, 404-412.
    8. Österreichisches Verkehrssicherheitsprogramm VSP 2011-2010. Wien: bmvit - Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie 2016.
    9. Piaget, J. (1983). Meine Theorie der geistigen Entwicklung. Frankfurt: Fischer-Verlag.
    10. RVS 03.04.14 (6/2003): Nichtmotorisierter Verkehr, Gestaltung des Schulumfeldes. Wien: Österreichische Forschungsgesellschaft Straße, Schiene, Verkehr (FSV).
    11. RVS 03.04.13 (11/2015): Kinderfreundliche Mobilität. Wien: Österreichische Forschungsgesellschaft Straße, Schiene, Verkehr (FSV).
    12. Schützhofer, B., Rauch, J., Knessl, G. & Uhr, A. (2015). Neue Ansätze in der verkehrspsychologischen Verkehrssicherheitsarbeit im Kindesalter. Zeitschrift für Verkehrssicherheit, 4, 61, 235-246.
    13. Schützhofer, B., Rauch, J., Uhr, A., Bergmeier, A., Knessl, G. & Schürch, B. (2016). Verkehrspsychologische und -pädagogische best-practice Empfehlungen für sichere Verkehrsteilnahme als Rad fahrendes Kind. Zeitschrift für Verkehrssicherheit, 4, 153-162.
    14. Schützhofer, B. (2017). Verkehrsreife - Theoretische Fundierung, Entwicklung und Erprobung der Testbatterie zur Erfassung der Verkehrsreife TBVR 14+. Bonn: Kirschbaum Verlag GmbH.
    15. Stark, J., Meschik, M., Singleton, P. A., & Schützhofer, B. (2018a). Active school travel, attitudes and psychological well-being of children. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 56, 453-465. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2018.05.007. Go to original source...
    16. Stark, J., Uhlmann, T., Fanninger, C., Schützhofer, B., Berger, W. & Kirchner, M. (2018b). Seeing the world through the eyes of a child: A smartphone application to visualize children´s perceptions of their transport geographies. Poster presentation on the 9th Child in the City World Conference, 24th to 26th of September 2018 in Vienna, Austria.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content