Texting on the trot is a danger to yourself and traffic
FORGET the dangers of texting while driving: South Africa is now seeing a rise in “digital dead walkers”.
Texting on the trot has become the latest hazard for South Africans unable to tear themselves from their phones when they hit the streets.
It is resulting in injuries, road safety authorities warned this week.
This is in keeping with an international trend — a recent study by the New York-based Stony Brook University found that distracted walkers veer off course by as much as 61% while texting, live chatting, tweeting, posting on Facebook, reading or playing games on their phones. The worst culprits, according to the research, are people between the ages of 18 and 34, and women aged 55 and older.
Road Traffic Management Corporation spokesman Simon Zwane said a campaign was in place to educate pedestrians about “the importance of remaining alert and vigilant on the roads”.
“Efforts have also been made in communities that live close to main roads to fence off their settlements and direct them to safer areas where they can cross the road.
“Law enforcement officers are also deployed to these areas to discourage pedestrians from walking on busy roads,” Zwane said.
Advocate Johan Jonck of the Arrive Alive campaign said statistics relating to distracted pedestrians were unavailable, but pedestrian deaths in South Africa accounted for 40% of road fatalities.
“[Texting and walking] is indeed a growing concern especially among the 15- to 29-yearold group, for which road deaths are the greatest global killers,” said Jonck.
Arrive Alive said in a report: “We are now finding more and more accidents as a result of pedestrian inattentiveness. We find a lot of people texting, looking down or listening to music.
“Pedestrians who attempt to multitask while talking on a cellphone have a reduced cognitive capacity to devote to potentially dangerous activities such as crossing the streets. The rise in use of personal electronics may be the main ingredient for disaster.”
Arrive Alive found that accident data related to distracted walking is hard to find as the records usually only describe death or injury from “pedestrian distraction”.
“Many accident victims refuse to admit they were distracted.”
Durban mother of two Vanessa Narotam bumped her head on a boom gate at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.
“I hit my head on a boom gate and I was texting! My kids instinctively burst into laughter. I was a tad stunned, embarrassed and sore. That was a lesson learnt. I said to my kids: ‘This is why you don’t text and walk.’ ”
Arrive Alive’s safety tips for mobile users on the trot include:
Always be alert and watch for traffic;
Just as drivers should limit cellphone use while driving, pedestrians — and especially children — should limit cellphone use while crossing streets;
If you’re going to talk on a phone, stay stationary;
Don’t walk and talk on mobile devices in traffic;
Be fully aware of your surroundings — don’t let music take your attention away from the sound of oncoming vehicles, hooting or sirens;
Be especially attentive near level crossings; and
Do not assume that you have the right of way and that cars will stop for you.