What Kids Can and Can’t Do
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Think your 5-year-old can cross the street? Can your 7-year-old bicycle to school? Think again. Parents tend to overestimate their children’s street smarts, safety experts say.
5-year-olds cannot:
* Judge speed or distance.
* Understand why the driver of a car can’t see them if they can see the car.
* Quickly realize the direction from which the sound of a car is coming.
* Stop play momentum in time to focus on the street.
6-to-8-year-olds cannot:
* Consistently judge speeds and distances of oncoming cars.
* Control a big bike bought for them to “grow into.”
* Plan a good route to their destination by bike or foot, or find a safe crossing place on their own.
* Balance, steer, stop and start a bike and pay attention to the street traffic, other cyclists and even parked cars.
Preteens and adolescents:
* Underestimate traffic and the amount of time it takes vehicles to stop.
* “Forget” that bicyclists are subject to same laws--and traffic fines--as all vehicles on the road.
Sources: UC Irvine and National Safe Kids Campaign
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