Etude qualitative du comportement piéton de collégiens par la méthode de l’autoconfrontation

Abstract

This study with young adolescents at the second peak age for pedestrian accidents was aimed at finding out what skills these children mobilize (choosing where to cross, analyzing traffic, estimating the space between vehicles, and perceiving the intentions of others) and what determinants could affect their behaviours. A qualitative method involving auto-confrontation and allo-confrontation was used. The participants were nine sixth graders (five girls and four boys) in their first year of middle school. An analysis of interviews in which participants described their own behavior indicated that these young adolescents were aware of the need to be visible to drivers, detected information in the traffic situation, and used both oncoming vehicle distance and speed to decide when to cross the street. On the other hand, their safety rules were context-dependent, and their knowledge of road and vehicle cues that could be help them understand and predict the actions of drivers was very incomplete. As a general rule, the adolescents' pedestrian behavior was guided by the social context and by their perceptions of drivers as law-breakers who are disrespectful of pedestrians. Their awareness of the impact of certain factors on their actions did not, however, generate control over their behavior or its determining factors. In conjunction with the insufficient pedestrian education provided by parents and teachers, these findings suggest the need to make the distinction between independent and autonomous pedestrian behavior.

Keywords

• child
• pedestrian
• behaviour
• traffic rule
• skill