STEP UP RESEARCH ON DISTRACTED WALKING BEFORE ENACTING LAW
We don’t have to consult our smartphones aswe cross the street in Chicago to know the City Council should do some serious research before telling people they can’t look at their smartphones while crossing a street.
Good luck even trying to enforce such a ban. Staring at our phones as we plug along, at least in the Loop, seems more the norm than the exception, even if it is dangerous. Let’s see the research first. Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke ( 14th) and Transportation Committee Chairman Anthony Beale ( 9th) want the police to fine people who look at their phones as they cross city streets. The first offense would be $ 90. After that, it would go up to $ 500.
We know the aldermen are well- intended. Like them, we’ve seen our share of oblivious people walking against a traffic light, their eyes locked on a handheld screen, while cars screech to a halt just feet away.
But Burke and Beale offered no study or statistics to back up their claim that the practice is truly dangerous. And the city’s deputy transportation commissioner, Luann Hamilton, said Wednesday that no data demonstrates a correlation between distracted walking and pedestrian deaths.
Federal statistics show 5,987 pedestrians were killed on highways last year, up 9 percent from the year before. But we have no idea how many of these pedestrians were distractedly using their cellphones.
As it happens, distracted walking is a common cause of injuries in the home, so maybe Burke and Beale are really on to something. People do have a way of thinking they’re better at this sort of thing— multitasking between their phones and their environment— than they are. Four years ago, a report in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention stated that the number of pedestrians who needed hospitalization after getting into an accident while looking at a phone rose 168 percent form 2004 to 2010.
Still, even in 2010, the total number was only 1,506 accidents for the entire country.
On Oct 25, Honolulu became the first major city in theUnited States to outlaw looking at hand- held electronic screenswhile crossing the street. San Mateo County, California, also has a ban.
Good for them. Maybe their cops have the time to spend issuing tickets like that. We’re pretty sure Chicago’s police have bigger concerns.
A better approach for Chicago, for now, would be to follow New York’s lead and educate the public about the risks of distracted walking.