Hold their hands! Kids can't see taffic on road

London, May 4 (IANS) Parents, do not forget to hold those tiny hands while crossing the road as kids below age 14 are more likely to be "blinded" to the coming traffic.

They have little capacity to spot things outside their area of focus, a research said.

"Children have much less peripheral awareness than adults have and it is an important implications for child safety," said professor Nilli Lavie of University College, London.

For example, a child trying to zip up his/her coat while crossing the road may not be able to notice oncoming traffic whereas a developed adult mind would have no problem with this, Lavie noted.

The capacity for awareness outside the focus of attention develops with age so the younger children are at higher risk of "inattentional blindness", Lavie said.

The findings suggest that even something simple like looking at a loose thread on a jumper or an advert on the side of a bus might be enough to make children 'blind' to oncoming traffic and other dangers when walking down the street.

The study appeared in the journal in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience.