A new study by researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London has determined that young children are not able to accurately judge the speed of approaching vehicles.

By measuring the perceptual acuity of over 100 young children, the researchers were able to determine that for speeds in excess of 20 mph (for a car just 5 seconds away), a child’s perception is simply not reliable. Adults, on the other hand, can make an accurate assessment for vehicles travelling as fast as 50 mph.

Professor John Wann, lead researcher from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, stated: “This is not a matter of children not paying attention, but a problem related to low-level visual detection mechanisms, so even when children are paying very close attention they may fail to detect a fast approaching vehicle.”

Professor Wann continued: “These findings provide strong evidence that children may make risky crossing judgements when vehicles are travelling at 30 or 40 mph and in addition the vehicles that they are more likely to step in front of are the faster vehicles that are more likely to result in a fatality. Travelling one mile through a residential area at 20mph versus 30mph will only add 60 seconds to your journey time – we encourage drivers to take a minute and save a child’s life.” [audio:http://hospitalstay.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/2-08-Killer-Cars.mp3|titles=Killer Cars]

The conclusions, published in Psychological Science, are part of a larger study designed to understand how perception can lead to pedestrian accidents.