Special Issue "Innovative Approaches in Children Traffic Safety"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Deluka-Tibljaš
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department for Transportation Engineering, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Interests: optimization of urban traffic infrastructure; traffic safety
Prof. Dr. Irena Ištoka Otković
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture Osijek, Croatia
Interests: traffic microsimulations; optimization of urban traffic infrastructure; traffic safety; prediction models
Dr. Sanja Šurdonja
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department for Transportation Engineering, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Interests: optimization and design of traffic infrastructure; traffic safety

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

According to a recent WHO Report (WHO, 2018), road traffic injuries are currently the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged between 5 and 29 years, and the conclusion is that there is an urgent need for change in the current child and adolescent health agenda which, to date, has largely neglected road safety. The situation, however, as is the case with traffic safety in general, varies significantly across the world depending on socio-economic and other conditions. According to an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report (Keeping children safe in Traffic, 2018), the gap between the safest countries and the highest-risk country is wide, varying from 1.5 (Sweden) up to 7.5 (Korea) deaths per 100,000 children under the age of 15. Due to the recognition of this problem, global research on the traffic safety of children has been developing in recent decades in different scientific fields and directions.

This Special Issue focuses on collecting examples of innovative approaches to the analyses of child traffic safety in different circumstances in which children regularly participate in traffic—as pedestrians, cyclists and vehicle passengers. The idea is to connect research conducted by scientist from different disciplines—transportation engineers, civil engineers, urban planners, psychologists, educators and pediatricians that work separately or in multidisciplinary teams. As children act in very different traffic conditions, and the research proved that their behavior is consequently different, a worldwide comparison of the results of previous studies will enable a consensus of possible general and more local measures that could help to enhance child traffic safety. Innovation is welcomed in the application of different methodologies, collaboration of scientist from different disciplines, comparison of parameters affecting child safety and proposals for innovative and effective traffic safety strategies and measures for children.

 

Papers based on applied, but also on theoretical, research will be considered. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Child pedestrian safety;
  • Child cyclist safety;
  • Child safety in vehicle collisions;
  • Traffic infrastructure and child traffic safety;
  • Autonomous vehicles and child traffic safety;
  • Methods for analyzing child pedestrian safety;
  • Models of child traffic behavior;
  • Microsimulations of child pedestrian traffic;
  • Characteristics of children influencing their traffic safety;
  • Comparison of characteristics of children and other traffic participants;
  • The influence of child cognitive development on traffic safety;
  • Child traffic safety and social equity;
  • Education for child traffic safety;
  • Traffic planning and design for child traffic safety;
  • Urban planning and child traffic safety.

Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Deluka-Tibljaš
Prof. Dr. Irena Ištoka Otković
Dr. Sanja Šurdonja
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • child traffic safety
  • innovation in traffic safety
  • child pedestrians and cyclist
  • child traffic behavior
  • child traffic safety measures

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Safety Analysis of Young Pedestrian Behavior at Signalized Intersections: An Eye-Tracking Study
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4419; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084419 - 15 Apr 2021
Viewed by 495
Abstract
Smartphones have become an integral part of our everyday lives and keep us busy while doing other primary activities such as driving, cycling or walking in traffic. The problem of digital distraction among drivers has been largely addressed, and interest is growing also [...] Read more.
Smartphones have become an integral part of our everyday lives and keep us busy while doing other primary activities such as driving, cycling or walking in traffic. The problem of digital distraction among drivers has been largely addressed, and interest is growing also on vulnerable road users as well. In fact, high percentages of pedestrians and cyclists are accustomed to checking their devices while moving in traffic. This research links to the presented theme and aims to investigate the extent to which digital distraction in the form of social media app checking influences pedestrian behavior. The focus of the study is specifically on signalized intersections. An outdoor, eye-tracking experiment was conducted on a specific route consisting of various elements typical of urban areas. Participants were asked to walk the predefined route twice, encountering three signalized intersections: the first time they were asked to walk with their smartphone in hand, the second time without. The recordings of each participant’s route were then analyzed, examining reaction time, crossing time and speed, fixations and gaze paths. The results show a clear impact of digital devices on pedestrians’ attention by increasing their reaction and crossing times and decreasing crossing speeds. In addition, the analysis of fixations found that 82.54% of the time was devoted to the smartphone, while interest in other street elements decreased from 16.64% to 4.03%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches in Children Traffic Safety)
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