PERILS OF TEXTING AND WALKING
Pedestrians need to keep their heads up when crossing streets — or else
Such is the state of public consciousness these days that civic authorities are now being forced to tell us how to cross the street like little children, or else be punished.
B.C. Justice Minister Suzanne Anton in October drastically increased penalty points for distracted driving. The penalty for anyone who receives more than one distracted driving ticket in a year is now $634. There were 51,000 drivers sanctioned in 2014 in B.C. for distracted driving. Now these zombies are not just driving cars, but walking in front of them.
For a TV show about behavioural science, National Geographic in the summer of 2014 installed temporary “phone lanes” on Washington, D.C., streets for pedestrians to follow. The Chinese city of Chongqing followed suit in September. Both TV efforts aimed at raising safety awareness. The problem is that none of the pedestrians using phones even noticed the special lanes or the TV cameras.
As an experiment, a Western Washington University team sent a unicycle-riding clown across campus, and the results showed only one in four pedestrians chatting on cellphones noticed him. In the small Norwegian village of Ørje, artists installed a pedestrian sign that encourages people to engage in silly walks (youtu.be/By95MlAGTjE) inspired by the famed Ministry of Silly Walks sketch by Monty Python. Norwegian transportation authorities were not amused and demanded it be removed.
It’s really not funny. It’s so serious that several American cities have now decided to make street arrests. In Fort Lee, N.J., the police chief has seen enough careless pedestrian distractions, including three fatalities, that after trying pamphlets and brochures to get attention, Thomas Ripoli has ordered his officers to ticket careless pedestrians.
Pedestrian injuries due to cellphone use in the U.S. are up 35 per cent since 2010, according to federal emergency room data, and some researchers blame at least 10 per cent of the 78,000 pedestrian injuries in the U.S. in 2012 on mobile device distraction. New York City has lowered speed limits to make traffic less dangerous for woolgathering walkers.
Just how many people admit to being distracted walkers? The topic has not been the subject of targeted study in Canada yet, but according to a survey funded by Liberty Mutual Insurance, 50 per cent of pedestrians in America admit to regularly talking on the phone while walking across the street, and 25 per cent say they text or email while crossing the street, even though most realize it’s very dangerous. A review of accidental pedestrian deaths by Ontario’s chief coroner suggested about 20 per cent of those who died may have been using a mobile device or wearing ear buds.
All this mindlessness might make you wonder what the root cause may be. Are many people addicted to cyberspace? Is that a more interesting place than Earth? Is it because we are suffering from so many different sources of input simultaneously we are forced into constant multi-tasking, often just to keep our jobs? Is it that we are obsessed with ourselves and can’t ignore an incoming phone call? Are we bored and need constant distraction, even if we are run over in the process?
Perhaps the biggest problem is the myth that has somehow evolved in Vancouver that the pedestrian has the absolute right of way at all times.
However, the Provincial Motor Vehicle Act and the city of Vancouver Street and Traffic Bylaw No. 2849 clearly show this is not true. Pedestrians are required, by law, “not to enter the street until they have ascertained that it is safe to enter the street and they may not enter the street contrary to traffic control signs, signals and directions by police.” In Vancouver, an average of seven pedestrians lost their lives in a motor vehicle collision between 2010 and 2014. Pedestrians represented 36 per cent of the total collision fatalities in 2014.
What’s the solution? You can try the U.S. suggestion and slap tickets on distracted walkers; or, like B.C.’s fines on distracted drivers, authorities can raise the fines until they have people’s attention.
Perhaps a cheaper solution might be to remember what your mother said as a child: “Look two ways before you cross the street.” Common sense always goes a long way.