Making in-class skills training more effective: The scope for interactive videos to complement the delivery of practical pedestrian training

Skills and awareness of young pedestrians can be improved with on-street practical pedestrian training, often delivered in schools in the United Kingdom by local authorities with the intention of improving road safety. This training is often supplemented by in-class paper based worksheet activities which are seen to be less effective than practical training in that they focus on knowledge acquisition rather than directly improving the correct application of safe pedestrian skills at the roadside. Previous research indicates that interactive video tools have the potential to develop procedural skills whilst offering an engaging road safety educational experience, which could positively impact on road crossing behaviour. In this paper, the design and development of a hazard-identification interactive road safety training video targeting child road crossing skills is presented. The interactive video was shown to be an engaging training resource for 6-7 year old children. The tool’s scope for improving pedestrians’ roadside skills is considered along with the wider implications for interactive video to aid safety training in other areas. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic • Interactive video has the potential to teach procedural skills. • Paper-based road safety educational materials are less effective at improving skills compared to practical experience and training. • Practical pedestrian training delivered by some Local Authorities is in decline. What this paper adds • Interactive hazard-identification video offers an engaging educational experience for young road users. • Interactive road safety videos show potential to be effective in positively improving some on-street child pedestrian behaviour. • On-street skills assessments must be designed to reduce confounding external influences. Implications for practice and / or policy • Interactive video could be considered as an additional educational aid to complement existing practical road safety training. • Practical training must still form the bulk of pedestrian road safety education. • Interactive video is applicable for other skills based training that traditionally relies on the passive watching of video-based training material.