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First-graders and younger children tend to focus on what interests them. They sometimes move in ways that adults can never predict. They are short of hazard recognition.

6 Comments

Hiroshi Kansaku, professor emeritus of traffic psychology at Chukyo University. Researchers say parents of new elementary school first-graders need to tell them of the dangers of roads. (Asahi Shimbun)

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Wow ! And it took a professor emeritus to figure this out ?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

This is more or less common sense. Of course parents need to teach kids about the dangers in roads. I constantly told my kids never to trust that a car will, for example, stop at a red light. Every morning I see drivers with their eyes glazed over in intensity and a manic desire to get to work because they couldn't wake up 5 minutes earlier. They are in a kind of trance, and won't snap out of it unless they run a kid over.

So, yeah, we have to teach the kids to be very careful - because we have no sway over these "adults."

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Oh, I used to walk with my daughter to school everyday, and to wait for her after school. You know, sometimes adults can be outrageous- there's only one sidewalk on the road to the school, it's not wide, but sometimes salarymen dragging suitcases , or worse- fancy young OLs will walk in the middle waving nice bags with stuff in it, and kids will have to walk on the road. When I'm with my daughter I at least make sure she walks on the sidewalk.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

They sometimes move in ways that adults can never predict. They are short of hazard recognition.

I'm sorry, but as someone who drives in Japan, I can tell you that this statement is not exclusive to children at all...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Welcome to common sense! The guy's talking like this is news. Now, the real news would be if they made streets and sidewalks to accommodate such behaviour and lessen the risks instead of putting the priority on automobiles. This afternoon I walked on a 'sidewalk' that was the width of about 3cm. It was a single lane street but with traffic going both ways, and all sorts of people walking about. Now how are little kids, adults, or anyone else going to be safe?

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

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