Utilization analysis of a pedestrian safety training program.

A previously developed and analyzed pedestrian safety training program was used to teach appropriate street-crossing behaviors to kindergarteners and first graders. Adult crossing guards were trained to provide pedestrian safety instruction. Trained observers monitored the quality of instructions given by crossing guards and the pedestrian behavior of young children as they crossed the street. A multiple-baseline analysis of the effects of two training programs indicated that guards were able to deliver the pedestrian safety program to several groups of children with a high degree of competence after receiving a single videotape and role playing training session. Furthermore, children's level of appropriate street crossing increased contemporaneous to the change in guard behavior both on the street where training was delivered and on a second street where no training was previously delivered. Utilization analysis of the guard training program indicated that one cannot expect to produce consistently high levels of street-crossing behavior by implementing only the "show and tell" portions of the training package. Similarly, results suggested that one is unlikely to produce consistently high quality guard training behavior by only giving written instructions describing how pedestrian training should be administered.