Pedestrian distraction’ has become a recognized safety issue as more people use their smartphones while walking on the pavement and crossing roads. Around 270,000 pedestrians die every year globally, making up about a fifth of all road traffic deaths.
Research showed that listening to music wasn’t associated with any heightened risk, while talking on the phone was associated with a small increase in the time taken to start crossing the road, and slightly more missed opportunities to cross the road safely. Text messaging emerged as potentially the most harmful behaviour. It was associated with significantly lower rates of looking left and right before or while crossing the road, and with moderately increased rates of collisions and close calls with other pedestrians or vehicles.
Given that smartphones, social media, apps, digital and streaming music, have infiltrated most aspects of daily life, distracted walking and street crossing will be a road safety issue for the foreseeable future, the researchers noted.
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