Impact of Traffic Park Use Experience on Children's Perception of Traffic Rules: A Case Study for Toyohashi City Traffic Park

Abstract

As a basic study on the contribution of traffic parks to traffic safety education, this study aims to understand the influence of children's experience of using traffic parks on their knowledge of traffic rules. Specifically, we analyze the relationship between the frequency of using a traffic park and the knowledge of traffic rules through a questionnaire survey targeting children and their parents in Toyohashi city. The results show that the children's experience of using traffic parks before entering an elementary school has a positive influence on their knowledge of traffic rules: compared to children who had never used the traffic park before entering school, children who had used it are more likely to answer to stop at a "stop" sign when riding a bicycle and more likely to answer to stop at uncontrolled crosswalk to yield the right of way to pedestrians. Regarding “riding a bicycle on left-hand side”, however, the frequency of using the traffic park before entering an elementary school increases the awareness of the rule but does not lead them to take the behavior.