Child pedestrian injury prevention project: Student results

Background. Few comprehensive pedestrian safety interventions for primary-s chool-age children have been developed and evaluated. This paper reports th e impact of the 3-year (1995-1997) Child Pedestrian Injury Prevention Proje ct (CPIPP) on a cohort of 1603 children followed from age 6 to 9 years. Thi s multicomponent project comprised an educational intervention for students , their parents and teachers, and the local community, as well as several e nvironmental interventions. The primary aim of CPIPP was to improve childre n's road-related behavior and to enhance the safety of their road environme nt. Methods. Three communities were assigned to the treatment conditions: (1) h igh-education, community, and environmental interventions; (2) moderate-edu cation intervention only; and (3) comparison (usual road safety education). Children's pedestrian knowledge and road crossing and playing behaviors we re assessed using a pre- and posttest self-report questionnaire. Their self -reported road crossing behaviors were validated using an observational sch edule and brief interview. Results. Children in the high and moderate intervention groups were signifi cantly more likely to cross the road with adult supervision (P = 0.013) and play away from the road (P = 0.000) than the comparison group. No differen ces were detected in children's pedestrian safety knowledge between the int ervention and comparison groups. Conclusions. While several methodological limitations may have influenced t he study outcomes, these data nonetheless indicate that in the study sample the CPIPP educational intervention deaccelerated the natural increase in c hildren's pedestrian-related risk behavior. (C) 2000 American Health Founda tion and Academic Press.