Integration of gamification in a traffic education platform for children

Abstract

Children are highly represented in injuries and fatalities caused by road accidents. The major reasons are children’s lack of ability to scan the environment, inconsistent behavior, distraction in traffic situations, ability to estimate speed and distance, and less developed hazard perception skills. Therefore, traffic education for children is very important. This study will look at a platform about traffic education for children including gamification elements. Gamification is a relatively new concept which has gathered a lot of attention over the last few years with its application in many diverse fields. Gamification is defined as the application of game mechanics to non-game activities in order to change behavior. The education community has discovered the power it has to increase students’ performance and engagement. The current study focuses on educating school going children on traffic safety in Flanders (Belgium). We expect the platform to be effective in increasing traffic knowledge, situation awareness, risk detection and risk management among children and a positive change in (predictors of) behaviors of children who will be using the platform. To investigate the effect of the platform, a pretest-posttest design with an intervention group and a control group will be used. Data will be collected and analyzed in the spring of 2018 and results, limitations and policy recommendations will be provided during the conference in June 2018.