Citation

Salvatore S. J. Saf. Res. 1974; 6(3): 118-125.

Affiliation

Salvatore, Santo: Brown U, Hunter Lab of Psychology

Copyright

(Copyright © 1974, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Forty children, aged five to 14, were asked to classify as slow, medium, or fast, the velocity of vehicles approaching them all in a two lane rural road in a residential setting. Developmental aspects were definitely present. The older the child, the more likely he is to make correct slow and medium judgments other vehicles velocity. Correct judgments of fast are inversely related to age, however. Sex is also a significant variable. The females in the sample were much more conservative and, therefore, much more likely to correctly classify the dangerous fast vehicles, by contrast, the males in the sample made more correct judgments over the whole speed range. Results indicate considerable differences associated with age and sex. Vehicle associated characteristics, such as size and noise, are also shown to influence the velocity judgment.