Evaluating the efficacy of a virtual reality infused child-pedestrian training

Abstract

This research has developed a child pedestrian training module using Virtual Reality (VR) system. Children can have an immersive experience of walking on streets in different street-crossing scenarios. Past literature and crash data analysis revealed higher and more severe injury cases for child pedestrians in school zones serving low-income and underrepresented communities. This training was developed to fulfill the needs for a child-pedestrian, living in such communities, to understand basic pedestrian rules and develop safe walking behavior. The training module has been created as a VR "game" where the child played the game as a "player". Each child experienced eight critical street-crossing scenarios named "levels" and numbered from 1 through 8. These levels are designed and developed based on crash data analysis to test the player's decision-making ability. A head-mounted device (HMD) was used to play the game, where a right-hand game controller was used to change levels. As the game was developed, it had to go through a quality test of the developer. Players' experience survey responses were also recorded. These measures were collected to ensure the effectiveness and user-friendliness of the game. Results show that the game was effectively developed to perform it's defined task in the improvement of child-pedestrian behaviors. Future research can include objective measures to evaluate participants' improvement in walking behavior and make the training module more comprehensive with additional crossing scenarios.