Brief report: Increasing children's safe pedestrian behaviors through simple skills training

Objectives Hundreds of American children are killed and thousands more injured annually as pedestrians. Simple and effective interventions targeting behavioral changes in children are needed. Methods The present study tested a simple, skill-based training method for increasing safe pedestrian behaviors. Eighty-five children ages 5-8 participated. Results Children behaved more safely following training, indicating very brief training can produce at least short-term improvements in pedestrian behaviors. Conclusions Results are discussed with regard to the involvement of parents in the practical application of a simple training procedure and future directions for pedestrian interventions.