Accident research shows: Running elementary school students need 1.8 meters to stop

The reconstruction of traffic accidents provides important insights into how they can be avoided. If pedestrians are involved, the experts use kinematic models that include typical values ​​for acceleration, speed, reaction time and braking distance.

However, there has been a lack of corresponding data for children, even though their movement patterns differ significantly from those of adults. As part of the KISIMO research project, Ernst Tomasch from the Institute for Vehicle Safety at TU Graz and Bettina Schützhofer from the traffic psychology institute “sicher unterwegs” have now collected such data for primary school children and made it available for accident research.

1.8 meters to a standstill – regardless of age

“Unlike adults, children up to a certain age cannot simply stop a movement once it has begun,” says traffic psychologist Bettina Schützhofer. They therefore need more time and more distance in traffic before they can stop.

The researchers therefore conducted movement tests with children between the ages of 6 and 10 in which they had to walk or run in order to stop as quickly as possible when they heard a whistle.

A key result: Regardless of their age, running children needed around 1.8 meters to stop. “The older children reacted more quickly to the signal and were also able to slow down more quickly,” explains Tomasch. “However, due to their higher initial speed, their deceleration distance was the same as that of the younger children.”

Make traffic areas easily visible for children

The researchers have already presented their data on acceleration, maximum speed and braking distance of primary school children at workshops with accident inspectors. The findings can also help in the design of safer road spaces.

“The traffic area should therefore be clearly visible to children so that they can stop in time in case of danger,” says Tomasch.