Association between intersection characteristics and perceived crash risk among school-aged children

Area of Science:

• Pedestrian safety
• Environmental psychology
• Childhood injury prevention

Background:

• Understanding factors influencing children's perception of traffic safety is crucial for developing effective interventions.
• Previous research has not fully explored the specific environmental attributes of intersections that contribute to perceived crash risk in school-aged children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how environmental attributes near intersections affect the perceived crash risk among school-aged children (10-12 years old).
• To identify intersection characteristics that are perceived as high-risk by children, informing proactive safety countermeasures.

Main Methods:

• A study involving 799 school-aged children in Korea.
• Utilized standard negative binomial and zero-inflated negative binomial models to analyze perceived crash risk.
• Examined environmental attributes such as road width, crossings, facilities, building entrances, visibility, and traffic-calming measures.

Main Results:

• Increased student crossings, wider roads, presence of crosswalks, student-friendly facilities, and four-way intersections were associated with higher perceived crash risk.
• More building entrances increased perceived risk, while better visibility reduced it.
• Traffic-calming measures showed weak associations, suggesting limited effectiveness in reducing perceived risk.

Conclusions:

• School-aged children's perceptions of intersection safety are influenced by specific environmental features.
• Perceived crash risk accurately reflects actual crash risks, highlighting its value for identifying hazardous intersection characteristics near schools.
• Findings can guide the development of targeted, proactive safety measures for child pedestrians.