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Title: WALKING STRAIGHT HOME FROM SCHOOL: PEDESTRIAN ROUTE CHOICE BY YOUNG CHILDREN
Accession Number: 00394958
Record Type: Component
Availability: Find a library where document is available Abstract: Unobtrusive observations of 50 randomly selected pedestrian youngsters were made after the children had been dismissed from elementary schools in Lincoln, Nebraska. The results demonstrate that (a) 88 percent of the students walked directly to a residential dwelling; (b) 98 percent chose a least-distance path from their school to their residence or other destination; (c) the majority of students (62 percent), by choosing to minimize distance, found their route choices reduced to a single route option; and (d) when faced with the choice between two or more distance-minimizing routes, the children in this study selected structurally more complex routes than did adults. All the children in this study were among the first students to leave school after class and walked home unaccompanied. The children appear to follow the admonition to come straight home from school, but in so doing they are generally limited to a single shortest-distance option. Such children thus have a much constrained opportunity for environmental exploration. When faced with the chance to choose a more interesting and spatially complex route while still adhering to the norm to come straight home, the complex route was generally selected. Because of the small sample size in this study, these findings are best considered suggestive rather than definitive.
Supplemental Notes: Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Pedestrians. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
Monograph Title: Monograph Accession #: 00396910
Report/Paper Numbers: HS-038 232
Corporate Authors: Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street, NW Authors: Hill, Michael RPagination: pp 51-55
Publication Date: 1984
Serial: Media Type: Print
Features: References
(24)
TRT Terms: Old TRIS Terms: Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor
Files: HSL, TRIS, TRB
Created Date: Aug 31 1985 12:00AM
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