Police and paramedics believe walking while looking at your phone can be as dangerous as using your phone when driving.
Serial walking phone user, Ochra Bretherton understands the risks associated but still does it “all the time”.
“I think heaps of people text and walk. I think it’s pretty unsafe but it’s instinctive, not something I think about doing, I just do it,” she said.
There are no concrete statistics on how many injuries/deaths from pedestrians using their mobile phones, mainly because victims often deny they are doing it in the first place. But Chairman of the Pedestrian Council of Australia, Harold Scruby says spot checks found that 1 in 10 people cross the road while walking and texting.
Pedestrian walking on the sidewalk. (Photo: Al Najmeddine)
“The worst part about this is that the statistics are not just under-reported, they are not reported at all, so we don’t know how many deaths have occurred because someone because someone was distracted by their phone or IPod” Scruby said.
“It just goes down as a pedestrian being hit”.
Some people are fully aware of the ramifications and refuse to text and walk.
Pedestrian, Amanda Mills condemned the idea of texting and walking because she is “fearful” of what might happen.
“I never text and walk. I’ve seen what happens,” she said.
Paramedics have also seen a spike in these types of incidents.
Paramedic, David Morris said he has received many calls on people “walking into street poles and into other people”.
Pedestrian crossing the road on their mobile phones. (Photo: Al Najmeddine)
Public education campaigns have been undertaken in South Australia to increase awareness and challenge people’s perception on the severity of the issue.
Victoria Police do not have the same penalty but are targeting ‘jaywalkers’ who are on their mobile phones. A fine of $76 will be issued to those who don’t abide.
Harold Scruby has labelled these laws as “pathetic”.
“What we want is a separate offence that states clearly that using a handheld mobile device while crossing the road is a serious offence and should attract a penalty of at least $200” he said.
