Teaching children to cross safely: A full-immersive virtual reality training method for young pedestrians

IF 4.7 1区工程技术 Q1 ENGINEERING, INDUSTRIAL

Safety Science Pub Date : 2025-03-19 DOI:10.1016/j.ssci.2025.106855

Andrea Baldassa , Federico Orsini , Massimiliano Gastaldi , Riccardo Rossi

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

As road crashes are the leading cause of mortality among children, effective road safety education is vital. This study aims to evaluate an innovative educational method using fully immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technology to teach children how to cross the road safely and explores potential differences in learning outcomes based on gender. The proposed training system integrates individual VR sessions with collective VR-supported lessons.

The experiment involved 74 participants (41 females, age range 9–11), divided into control and treated groups. All participants underwent two full-immersive VR tests, with a two-week interval, during which they faced 4 pedestrian crossing scenarios, including both signalized and unsignalized crossings. The treated group, after one week from the first VR test, took part in a VR-supported lesson which illustrated the most common errors and the rules of good pedestrian behavior.

Participants from the treated group showed significant improvements in various behaviors: reduced red traffic light violations, less running while crossing, and better judgment of vehicular gaps when crossing. No significant gender-based differences in learning outcomes were directly linked to the treatment, except for the running behavior.

The proposed method, designed to be a scalable solution that can be easily implemented in school settings, can effectively train children in road safety, leading to significant improvements in crossing behavior regardless of gender.

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来源期刊

Safety Science 管理科学-工程：工业

CiteScore

13.00

自引率

9.80%

发文量

335

审稿时长

53 days

期刊介绍： Safety Science is multidisciplinary. Its contributors and its audience range from social scientists to engineers. The journal covers the physics and engineering of safety; its social, policy and organizational aspects; the assessment, management and communication of risks; the effectiveness of control and management techniques for safety; standardization, legislation, inspection, insurance, costing aspects, human behavior and safety and the like. Papers addressing the interfaces between technology, people and organizations are especially welcome.