Why Road Safety education is necessary for children?

Limitation of the child in traffic :
Road safety measure cannot be universally designed for all human beings. Children behave differently in traffic and are less visible due their size. Their understanding and senses are also less developed. As children are not small versions of adults, simply implementing common road safety strategies. May not protect child sufficiently. These factors make the task of securing children in traffic more complicated. As adults we have to be more cautions when introducing our children the traffic.

Some of the factors which makes children vulnerable in traffic are detailed below:

Limitation of size :

Due to its small size, the child has difficulty seeing in traffic they cannot view the surrounding traffic easily. Due to its small size children may not also be easily seen by the other traffic users. A child is top heavy the size of the child’s head in comparison to the rest body is greater than in adults. A child therefore has a higher center of gravity than an adult, leading to a greater susceptibility to head injuries

Limitation of vision :

Children have a less developed perception of depth and thus have difficulty judging the distance between themselves and the other objects, particularly when both are in motion.

Limitation of hearing :

Small children find it difficult to work out the size and speeds of vehicles from the sound of vehicle as they approach. Children face difficulty in judging what direction a sound is coming from and hence they easily get confused in judging the exact location of the vehicle.

Limitation of attention :

Young children very impulsive. They have very short concentration span and cannot attend to more than one problem at the time. Children can be easily distracted which may lead them to suddenly run into the road.

Limitations of judgment :

Speed and distance to difficult for a child, but judgment of essential for safely crossing a road. The concept of left and right as position in relation to body develops slowly and are only well established after the age about seven.