Visual exploration and head-movement strategies in children and adults during road-crossing decisions

Children are vulnerable road users and face an increased risk of injury as pedestrians compared to adults. Children are considered to have less extensive visual exploration and make more unsafe crossing decisions than young adults. Apart from walking speed, exploratory head movements may explain why children face an increased risk when making street-crossing decisions. 44 adults aged 18–36 years ( M = 23.34, SD = 3.46) and 30 children aged 7–11 years ( M = 9.57, SD = 1.25) completed the 10-metre walk test and two key street-crossing tasks: gap acceptance and hazard perception, which were completed using an established virtual reality (VR) paradigm. Head movements were recorded using the VR device. We showed that adults turned their heads more often and were faster to respond in gap acceptance and hazard perception tasks compared to children. Analysed separately, children’s head turn frequency and excursion significantly predicted hazard perception and gap acceptance over and above walking speed. For adults, only head turn frequency significantly predicted gap acceptance and hazard perception over and above walking speed. Results suggest that adults may complete a final check of traffic before making a street crossing decision, whereas children may not complete this check. Street-crossing is a complex task and as children age, head movements become more deliberate when exploring for a potential hazard and gap in traffic. As such, training interventions should incorporate head movements to help improve children’s street crossing skills.