Autistic Children Matter: Addressing Road Crossing Challenges from Multiple Perspectives

The overarching aim of this project is to improve the pedestrian safety of autistic children. In turn, this will make the road a better and safer environment for all users, bringing us one step closer to Vision Zero.

This project brings together autistic children (age 11-13), caregivers, their road crossing trainers (Independent Travel Training - ITT), and engineers to understand what are the road crossing challenges faced by autistic children, how they cross roads at signalised and unsignalised crossings, and why these challenges arise.

Trainers’ reports provided by the Independent Travel Training (ITT) team at Leeds City Council (LCC) will be analysed, and questionnaires will be distributed to caregivers nationwide. To move beyond subjective measures, we will also use the UK’s largest pedestrian simulator to investigate how autistic children cross the road compared to a control group at unsignalised crossings, assess how caregivers’ crossing decisions influence their children’s, and evaluate the impact of different signalised crossing designs (developed in collaboration with the LCC engineering team) on autistic children’s crossing behaviour and visual attention using eye-tracking technology. Throughout the project, we will work closely with our Local and National Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG). The findings will contribute to real-world improvements in infrastructure design, education and training, and policy in the short and medium term.