Identification of Child Pedestrian Training Objectives: the role of task analysis and empirical research

The aim of this study is to demonstrate that child pedestrian training objectives may be identified systematically and that this can be done through various task analysis methods, making use of different types of empirical information.
Some early approaches to the analysis of pedestrian tasks are reviewed in the framework of several theoretical approaches to task analysis. We present an outline of the Traffic Research Centre's pedestrian task analysis and of its use in the specification of the concrete objectives for an experimental child pedestrian training programme.
Selections of the objectives for pre-school children were made on the basis of importance and feasibility. Importance was assessed on the basis of various ways of analysing actual task performance, including studies on exposure, behaviour and accidents. Feasibility of objectives was assessed by using a model for the analysis of psychological ability requirements. The objectives selected are presented in the form of concrete teaching routines. These are operationalized in terms of the conditions under which the behaviour trained should be displayed. Validation of the objectives arrived at is considered feasible through further empirical research.