What you need to know about kids and pedestrian safety

When pedestrian accidents happen, the blame is often placed on the person behind the wheel. After all, they are the one who is in control of the car. The truth of the matter, however, is that both parties should be held accountable.

After all, just like Jordan Baker said in The Great Gatsby: “It takes two to make an accident.”

There is a viral video going around on Facebook of a boy being run over by a speeding car. Captured by the car’s dashcam, it shows the car speeding along a relatively empty street.

That is, until a boy appears out of nowhere and sprints across the street.

Sadly, the crossed at the exact moment as the car was passing and he slams against it.

The boy then bounces off the hood. For a few moments, the boy tries to stand up, but visibly struggles. Soon other people come to his aid. One person is even seen taking a photo of the car.

Before the video is cut off, the boy is seen getting up and walking away with a limp.

Posted only on Facebook page The Local Society, the video's remains unknown, so as the identity of the boy and the car’s driver, but the incident does highlight the importance of pedestrian safety when it comes to children crossing the street.

Read on to find out how to teach your kids about pedestrian safety

Pedestrian safety for children

Pedestrian safety has long been considered as one of the deadliest accidents anyone can get into, not only children. But did you know that in the United States, it is the fifth leading cause of related death for children five to nineteen?

Pedestrian safety is even more important now in the digital age, especially when almost everyone glued to their smartphones instead of their surroundings.

Safe Kids Worldwide offers these five useful tips on how you can keep your children safe when crossing the street.

• Teach kids at an early age to look left, right and left again before crossing the street. Then remind them to continue looking until safely across.
• Teach kids to put phones, headphones and devices down when crossing the street. It is particularly important to reinforce this message with teenagers.
• It’s always best to walk on sidewalks or paths and cross at street corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks. If there are no sidewalks, walk facing traffic as far to the left as possible.
• Children under 10 need to cross the street with an adult. Every child is different, but developmentally, most kids are unable to judge the speed and distance of oncoming cars until age 10.
• Be a good role model. Set a good example by putting your phone, headphones and devices down when walking around cars.

READ: Taxi driver runs over child crossing street in Manila

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