Parents often worry that their children will run out into the street before looking for traffic. One group of researchers conducted a study using virtual traffic and avatars to compare the likelihood of personal injury when crossing the street between children with ADHD and children without the attention disorder. The researchers who conducted the study were surprised by their findings.

The study shows that children with ADHD are more likely than children without ADHD to get injured by traffic, but not for the reason the researchers expected. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham conducted the study and compared 78 children with ADHD in the age group of seven to 10 with 39 children in the same age group without the attention disorder.

The researchers found that both groups of children followed traffic safety rules such as "look both way before you cross," but children with ADHD applied traffic safety rules differently. Children with ADHD made more risky choices than the other children and elected to cross the street during smaller spaces in traffic. The smaller spaces allowed for less time to safely cross.

Researchers expected the children with ADHD to be more impulsive than the other children. The children with ADHD demonstrated the same "curbside behavior" as the other children but had a harder time calculating how long it would take to cross the street and how long it would take for an oncoming car to reach the intersection. To reduce the risk of injury, the researchers believe children with ADHD just need more practice.

Source: Time, "Are kids with ADHD more likely to get hit by a car?" Bonnie Rochman, 7/25/11