New pedagogical approaches in digital media - enhanced traffic safety training for children

Abstract

According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, 186,300 children die annually from road traffic crashes globally, equivalent to over 500 child deaths daily. Road traffic injuries are among the top four global causes of death in children between the ages of 5 and 14 years. Among these deaths, children as pedestrians accounted for about 38%. To create effective intervention programs, the research on pedestrian safety risks associated with age is needed. For these reasons, an experiment was conducted to explore the impact of using tablet PC devices for learning purposes in the field of traffic safety. The results indicate that children show better performances when working with tablet PC, than in simulated traffic situations. Thus, it is important to take these findings into account when aiming to train children for road safety.