Study highlights alarming need for adult supervision of children in car parks

One can see children running daily on parking lots without the supervision of an adult, and the consequences can be fatal.

In the United States, according to the 2007 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report, approximately 5,000 injuries and 205 deaths of children aged 14 and under are caused by collisions with vehicles in unpopulated places, such as car parks, entrances and private properties.

A new study from the University of Alabama in Birmingham shows an alarming need for adult supervision in car parks, with 67% of children having no supervision at any given time between the parking lot of the car park. vehicle and the entry of the child into the building.

Children are unpredictable. The risks for safety in car parks are already dangerous. We found that parents pay less attention to their children in these car parks, which further increases the risk. "

David Schwebel, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Research, UAB College of Arts and Sciences

The study, published in the Journal of Safety Research, observed 124 children aged 2 to 10 years old and their adult supervisors as they were crossing a parking lot from their vehicle parked at a community recreation center. Although the majority of children are not supervised, the study also showed that 88.9% of children in a car park were out of reach of an adult's arm. And more than half of the children observed left the vehicle before the adult.

Investigators believe that the perception of risk is decreasing in known and familiar places, as adults and children feel "safe". Rouse explains that adults and children may not see the risks in parking lots as vehicles move more slowly, injury rates are perceived to be lower in this environment and there is a desire to get where they are going . However, various distractions, such as mobile phones, are present and the responsibility to create a safe pedestrian environment to the driver is transferred.

"As adult supervisors, we need to teach children the basic pedestrian safety practices and show them the example," said Jenni Rouse, PhD student at the UAB Psychology Department. . "The surveillance of children by adults in a parking lot is apparently mediocre, which creates significant safety risks and by addressing the concerns of pedestrian safety with children in car parks, we can help reduce the number of children of injuries in the emergency services and the life of the child. "

Targets of intervention

As a public health issue, several intervention targets could reduce the risk of injury or death to children in parking lots, including increased adult surveillance, safer behavior for children, safer driving, and more. a change in the parking lot environment.

"We need to change the perceived risk of adults to change perceptions and implement new interventions," said Rouse. "Behavioral changes in adults and setting limits for children could improve the risks encountered in parking lots, along with the environmental design of car parks."

Rouse recommends that adult supervisors implement injury prevention strategies, including:

• Hold a child's hand in a parking lot
• Make sure children stay in the car until an adult opens the door
• Exit the car on the pbadenger side when filing near a building to prevent cars from pbading on the driver's side
• Teach basic pedestrian safety practices such as watching traffic in both directions before crossing the car park
• Children's awareness of traffic and the dangers of moving vehicles
• Use sidewalks when they are available
• Reduce distractions when children are guided through a car park, including mobile phones and conversations with others

Teach early safety practices

Guards should start teaching their children basic safety rules from an early age. These practices include:

• Check vehicle traffic by looking back and forth before crossing the street
• Monitor vehicles in reverse
• Walk around the car parks and avoid the hiccups

For a driver in a parking lot, the attention should be even more focused and listening to those in the parking lot. Rouse recommends that drivers slow down and eliminate any distractions when they navigate the parking lots. The use of reversing cameras and the attention paid to the surroundings can have a significant impact on reducing the number of deaths and injuries on parking lots.

Environmental factors that can help reduce risk begin with changes in a parking lot. Speed ​​reduction allows longer response times for attentive drivers to respond to children's reckless behavior. This also reduces the intensity of the impact in the event of an incident. Additional changes include posting and enforcing speed limits in parking lots, adding slowdowns to slow traffic and adding sidewalks or placeholders pedestrians.

"Overall, adults should be more attentive when they are in a parking lot, than they drive or walk," Rouse said. "It is our responsibility to educate adults and children about the dangers and interventions to reduce them."