Pedestrian facts for kids
A pedestrian is a person travelling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road or footpath, but this was not the case historically.
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History
The main way humans get around is by walking. The first humans walked out of Africa about 60,000 years ago. We walked across India to reach Australia. We walked across Asia to reach the Americas. We walked from the fertile crescent area to reach Europe.
Nowadays, roads often have a designated footpath attached especially for pedestrian traffic, called the sidewalk in American English and the pavement in British English. There are also footpaths not associated with a road which are used only by pedestrians, especially ramblers, hikers or hill-walkers and there are roads not associated with a footpath. These footpaths, in mountains or forests, are called trails.
Efforts are underway by pedestrian advocacy groups to make it easy to be a pedestrian in new developments, especially to counteract newer developments where 20 to 30 percent do not include sidewalks. Some activists advocate large auto-free zones where pedestrians only or pedestrians and some non-motorised vehicles are allowed.
Related pages
Images for kids
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A sign in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, directing pedestrians to an overpass for safe crossing.
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Pedestrian signal in Santa Ana, California.
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In many jurisdictions in the United States, one must yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
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Traffic lights for pedestrians are also a factor in increasing safety. Animated pedestrian traffic light showing the pan-european sign.
See also
In Spanish: Peatón para niños
