IYO – what age should a child walk/cross a busy road alone?

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The other day, I’m driving home with my daughter. I see a girl smaller than her walking across (of course not in a cross walk or at a light) a major street. She can be no older than 6 and she is walking along chatting on her cell phone. My daughter asks me, “Why is that little girl all by herself?” I responded I don’t know.

Granted I could be overprotective, but I wouldn’t allow my 6 year old to cross this street. And honestly seeing her cross without a light or cross walk and talking on a cell phone while doing crossing, indicates to me she did not make the best decision.

I grew up nearby and I used to cross this street. It wasn’t as busy and I HAD to use the crosswalk and lights or I would lose this privilege. I am pretty sure I was in 3rd grade before I was allowed to do so.

Also, realizing the maturity of the child, on average, what age would you think is old enough? And when they are old enough, how do you ensure they follow certain safety rules (ie crosswalk)?

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

The other day, I’m driving home with my daughter. I see a girl smaller than her walking across (of course not in a cross walk or at a light) a major street. She can be no older than 6 and she is walking along chatting on her cell phone. My daughter asks me, “Why is that little girl all by herself?” I responded I don’t know.

Granted I could be overprotective, but I wouldn’t allow my 6 year old to cross this street. And honestly seeing her cross without a light or cross walk and talking on a cell phone while doing crossing, indicates to me she did not make the best decision.

I grew up nearby and I used to cross this street. It wasn’t as busy and I HAD to use the crosswalk and lights or I would lose this privilege. I am pretty sure I was in 3rd grade before I was allowed to do so.

Also, realizing the maturity of the child, on average, what age would you think is old enough? And when they are old enough, how do you ensure they follow certain safety rules (ie crosswalk)?

12.

Cycloptichorn

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About 14.

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@Linkat,

9 for busy streets, 6 for community streets.

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

And honestly seeing her cross without a light or cross walk and talking on a cell phone while doing crossing, indicates to me she did not make the best decision.

This sounds like.. honesty in HER mind, she did make a good decision.
She is doing what she is shown.

this says a lot about her parents whether we want to agree or not.

Why is a 6 year old child on a cell phone?
And obviously having that phone long enough to know how to tune the rest of the world out , in a dangerous way?
Why is she not looking for a crosswalk?

maturity of the child is important.
We will be moving DIRECTLY across the street from the school that Jillian will attend. She will cross the street alone. Well, with a crossing guard.. but you get my drift..

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Studies show kids have terrible depth perception until about the age of 10.
I didn't let me kids go out and play amongst parked cars until they were about this age. Not because of the stats but because, they really couldn't grasp the concept until then.

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Mind you... I had to walk 4 long blocks to school and cross a fairly major road to get to school from kindergarden up. I remember taking the bus at age 8 to take piano and dance lessons. Oldest of 5 kids.. I guess i had to learn to be responsible.

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@Linkat,

I'm more concerned about the phone. My son is 9 and has been crossing streets alone for about 2 years, but he's always been a very cautious boy. My daughter, however, will need to wait a little longer.

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@shewolfnm,

It scared me to she her doing this. I was scared for her.

The cell phone too - I thought she was too young to have. Wasn't sure if others felt the same.

My daughter would be afraid to do these things by herself. I think I might scare her too much with warnings about possible dangers. Even around our neighborhood - we are in a condo complex - a good size one as in lots of land so the kids have places to play. My big rule is that they need to stay together. Even where I live somewhat secluded, I do not want my 6 or 10 year old alone.

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@FreeDuck,

I just thought for this particular child, she didn't take the necessary pre-cautions so it indicates she isn't old enough to cross the street. The distraction of the cell phone, not crossing at a crosswalk/light - there are lights about a block away from where she crossed.

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@Linkat,

I think a 6 year old can learn how to cross the street safely. I don't think a 6 year old can learn to make good judgments about cell phone use while crossing the street. Most adults can't even figure that out.

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how were you guys taught to cross a street with a light, as kids we were taught to cross on a red, if the light was red for the cars on the street you wanted to cross it was safe to do so, it's funny though, i can remember freaking out adults by saying that i crossed the street on a green light, it was the same principle as i'd been taught, but using a different perspective, if the light ahead of me was green, i could cross, it made no sense to worry about the light on either side, i was going ahead

this was back in the days before the man/hand signal or even turn lights

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@djjd62,

I taught my kids to cross on a green -- meaning look at the same light you would look at if you were a car crossing the intersection. If there is a walk signal they should always use that instead. I also taught them to make eye contact with the car beside them in case it is planning to turn in their path. Same principle at stop signs and whenever they are crossing in front of any car -- don't go until you know they see you (and are stopped of course).

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@FreeDuck,

Yep I agree - and was waiting to hear about lots of people (including adults) not making good judgments - crossing streets, cell phones, etc.

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@djjd62,

The crosswalk I'm referring to and it was the same one I used as a kid has a red/yellow combo. So when it shows red/yellow together it is safe to walk - it will show red/yellow for all directions so no cars are supposed to go through it.

Another thing my parents taught me - wait until the cars stop even if the light is red/yellow. Good advice as for some reason at this intersection many cars do not stop for the red/yellow light.

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One other thing on this particular busy road, when I was a kid, a little girl was hit by a car and killed. She lived on the busy road (I lived on a side street off this road). If I remember correctly she was about 6 years old.

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@shewolfnm,

shewolfnm wrote:

We will be moving DIRECTLY across the street from the school that Jillian will attend. She will cross the street alone. Well, with a crossing guard.. but you get my drift..

Where are you moving? Very Happy

re crossing, when I was in kindergarden I walked the maybe 1/3 to 1/2 mile to the school.
There was a crossing guard for the busy intersection that had a traffic light. I remember being a little nervous crossing there, even with the guard. I don't I really understood his purpose at the time.

I was ok with crossing over block to block until that point, because there were practically no cars.

After that, usually I got driven to the school about a mile away, and walked home every afternoon. At first I didn't like the little bit of road that was the busy street mentioned above, even though it had a sidewalk (mostly). I would turn down the side streets as soon as I could, and walk home the back way.

That said, I agree with about 10 years old. I think in terms of school grades, and by 5th grade I could handle pretty much crossing the busy street in the little shopping area of the town next to us.

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/small/8758054.jpg

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ohh....and re the cell phone for a 6 year old.....WTF?

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@chai2,

That's what I was thinking.

I suppose it could be a slight possibility that she was a bit older and maybe very small for her age - but she was smaller than my daughter and she didn't look older - so I figured even if she was older she couldn't be more than a year..

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Maybe the child was older, but short?

Yaya (at 5 5/6) still has to hold my hand anytime we're near moving vehicles.

And she certainly doesn't have a cell phone. What cell phone would survive a 6 year-old?

My next house will be at least 200 yards from a major street.

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IYO – what age should a child walk/cross a busy road alone?

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