A new study published in the journal Pediatrics indicates that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are more likely to be hit by cars when crossing the street.
The study examined 2 groups of children between the ages of 7 and 10: one group with ADHD and one group without. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that kids with ADHD appear to understand and follow all the requisite street-crossing rules, but they don’t effectively process that information. For example, as pedestrians children with ADHD were more likely to take chances like trying to cross in between cars that were too close together. The study concluded that it’s harder for kids with ADHD to figure out how long it would take to get to the other side of the street and to determine how much time they had to cross before an oncoming car would enter the crosswalk.
Although traffic fatalities were at an all-time low in 2010, pedestrian accidents are still a leading cause of unintentional injury among children. The good news is that street safety lessons seem to be getting through to kids with ADHD. However, they may need more time or practice in identifying what dangers to watch for when crossing the street.
Read more about the study here.
