fungus wrote: Enough teenagers don't look with the roads as they are at present.
Whether or not they look is one thing. But if anyone relies on a child looking and
then making the correct decision then that might be a flawed mistake.
Wann, J.P., Poulter, D.R., & Purcell, C. (2011). Reduced sensitivity to visual looming inflates the risk posed by speeding vehicles when children try to cross the road. Psychological Science. First published on March 9, 2011 doi:10.1177/0956797611400917
Almost all locomotor animals respond to visual looming or to discrete changes in optical size. The need to detect and process looming remains critically important for humans in everyday life. Road traffic statistics confirm that children up to 15 years old are overrepresented in pedestrian casualties. We demonstrate that, for a given pedestrian crossing time, vehicles traveling faster loom less than slower vehicles, which creates a dangerous illusion in which faster vehicles may be perceived as not approaching. Our results from perceptual tests of looming thresholds show strong developmental trends in sensitivity, such that children may not be able to detect vehicles approaching at speeds in excess of 20 mph. This creates a risk of injudicious road crossing in urban settings when traffic speeds are higher than 20 mph. The risk is exacerbated because vehicles moving faster than this speed are more likely to result in pedestrian fatalities. So now you know that children may no be able to correctly determine the speed of approaching vehicles, it shouldn't be a surprise if they look but still walk in front.
Add to that . . .
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ivers.htmlYoungsters are more dangerous on the roads because their brains are not sufficiently developed, according to researchers.
They said the frontal lobe of the brain - which controls emotion, risk-taking and decision-making - does not fully mature until the age of 25.
As a result, teenagers are more impulsive, excitable and prone to taking risks and causing accidents
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