Phone users must not be blinkered

It is hard to imagine life without mobile phones. In many ways, the new technology has been a godsend. Certainly communication has never been easier and, of course, modern phones can be used for so much more than conversation.

Text messages and even surfing the web are also popular with many users.

But at what cost?

It has taken a long time to hammer home the message that checking messages while behind the wheel is unacceptable and now there are concerns that engrossed pedestrians are also posing a problem.

Catherine Rowe is even scared to leave her home, so concerned is she that she will be barged into by people looking at phones instead of where they are going.

The blind pensioner’s confidence has taken quite a dent and there is no doubt she raises a genuine issue.

A study in Australia found that about half of white cane users had, in the last two years, been knocked over, injured or had their cane broken by someone bumping into them.

The alarming statistic led to the instigation of a concerted campaign, urging pedestrians to keep their “Eyes Up”.

Getting out and about is difficult enough for those with a visual impairment.

It is incumbent upon us all not to make it an even more daunting experience.