What interested me the most in The Times this week was an article called “Cellphones and Crosswalks A Hazardous Mix”, because I’ve seen the outcome of this problem in person. This article discusses different reasons why walking while using a cellphone isn’t safe. My personal experience with this happened one day last summer while I was waiting for someone at a train station. A guy looking down at his cell phone, wearing headphones and dancing while walking was approaching the train crossing intersection. Even though the signals were blinking and the alert bells were ringing, I watched as the man walked right in front of an oncoming train. Apparently, his music was so loud that he couldn’t pay enough attention to his surroundings to see or hear the train coming. In the article a doctor, named Dr. Sayed, says that walking in a crossway while on your cell phone helps to unbalance your focus on the road and slows you down. With that said, the slower you are, the greater the chance you’ll get hit. Dr. Sayed did an experiment with 357 pedestrians and found that 38 percent were on their cellphones or reading a book while crossing the street. The article connects to what I experienced because it shows that it can happen anywhere and anytime. Which also leads to my final conclusion that I completely agree with the article in a sense that phones should not be used in a crossway for safety reasons.
It's not just the car pedestrian problem. I knew a teenage girl who was texting while walking and collided so hard with a concrete column at a swimming pool that she broke her nose.
But when I drive through my residential neighborhood I have to be very alert to the bikers and joggers with earbuds who are likely to mosey or sprint or drift in front of my car or the dog walkers on the phone who sashay 5 feet from the curb while looking down at the phone. These are adults acting like bullet proof teenagers. For some reason the phone is as bad for some people as substance abuse.
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Texting while crossing an intersection + encountering a driver texting while driving = Death.
Recommendation: See a cellphone addiction therapist immediately.
A dilemma I often face:
I’m walking down the street and someone coming directly at me is looking down at their phone. I’m looking straight ahead, as I should be. If neither of us moves, we’ll hit head on, and the other person will probably feel the effect(s) of the collision more as they’re not expecting it.
We all know who’s wrong in this case. So I often move to avoid the collision, but in doing so sometimes lose my balance or hit someone else (especially on a crowded street).
I feel it would be wrong not to move, and to allow the other person to smack into me (again, me prepared, them not), but I also then feel like I’m paying the price for their carelessness and inconsideration.
Don’t minimize this, people; it’s a real annoyance when it happens several times per *minute* on a major city street.
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I yield to pedestrians in the cross walk or anywhere else, of course. But if I see them looking at their phone while crossing I still give them a honk !
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Could those pedestrians using cellphones on crossings think about drivers who I am sure don't want an accident? (Drivers also using their cell phones are excepted since I assume that they think using the phone is worth the extra risk).
A "study" was needed to indicate the dangers of doing this? Can't wait for the next one: "Study Proves That Breathing Increases Chances of Remaining Alive."
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Most of us were taught to walk on the right side of the street, with the traffic overtaking us directly behind us. This causes ordinary pedestrians, who are merely daydreaming or speaking to another pedestrian, to sometimes step dangerously close to the path of car they can't see.
This practice has caused many injuries and deaths to people speaking on cellphones, as they are not only distracted, but cannot hear the oncoming car directly behind them. We should probably start urging everyone to always walk on the left.
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@Sequel
Please do not walk, run, or ride against traffic and don't let your children do it. It is very disruptive to the flow and a lot more dangerous for everybody!
Haha. Recently, was making a left turn at a T junction. I paused since there was no traffic facing me and waited until the walk light blinked “no crossing.” As I started my turn, a jogger, from the opposite side dashed across the street ignoring the red light. I know he didn’t want to break his stride, but I could have hit him. I applauded efforts to maintain health but not at the peril of your life.
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Ironically, one of the very worst intersections full of people texting and being distracted on their cell phones is 168 St. and Fort Washington, the Columbia Medical Center. Even people not on their phones cross Fort Washington unsafely against the light. I've never seen anything like it anywhere else. The doctors, professors, and other medical professionals seem to think that the world revolves around them and that all drivers will stop on a dime for them.
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''bengal12Rana052500" I chose this article because it made me realize something important. Being a Distracted pedestrian is unsafe and i am likely to get hit by a distracted driver. Because he probably wasn't paying attention and neither was i, so it would probably end in a bad situation for both of us. Staying off of our phones for just a little won't kill us, so if your driving or walking be careful and don't use your phones.
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I’ve been driving in Manhattan for 30 years. In the past two years I’ve totally changed by driving style. I drive super slow around turns, I almost creep, I figure if there is gonna be a collision between me and a pedestrian or cyclist or car, they are gonna have to hid me broadside. I’m not rushing through intersections.
Last week I was driving down Lexington in the left lane the light was mine and this jogger bolts out in front of me. I was able to stop from hitting her by 4 inches. I’m generally a skilled and aggressive driver, but these days in Manhattan I take it easy.
(Haven’t had an accident since I destroyed my daddies Buick in 1971)
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While I think talking/texting on your phone when crossing the road is dangerous, I also believe that the driver also contributes to pedestrian accidents. Drivers should be the ones who are the most alert when driving, and they should make sure to look out for pedestrians. However, pedestrians do play a part in whether or not they are going to be hit by a car as well. Being a pedestrian, you should look out before crossing the road, and put your phone down for a few minutes so that you can secure your own life as well. According to the study that was done in British Columbia, 38% of the pedestrians crossing were on their phones. This causes them to take smaller steps, which increases the time in which they are on the street, raising the risk of getting hit. In conclusion, both sides are responsible for pedestrian accidents. Drivers are the ones who have the most control, so if they are not paying attention, they could knock down an innocent person, without meaning to. Pedestrians, on the other hand, should put down their phones for a few seconds, in order to decrease the change of getting hit. It is essential to be alert at all times, so no one gets hurt. If pedestrians and drivers were to do this simple task, hundreds of lives could be secured.
Distracted pedestrian gets smacked by distracted driver. You cannot presume that anyone is paying attention to their path.
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While I agree wholeheartedly with the premise of this article, my views were tempered after spending some time in Japan. I am still amazed at how skillfully the locals navigated crowded train stations and other public spaces at breakneck speed while glued to their smartphones. Culture and environment matter.
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@Discreet
That deserves a study!
This important article would have been more powerful if it had mentioned the fact that U.S. pedestrian deaths have risen tremendously in recent years, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. In fact, U.S. pedestrian deaths are at a 25-year high of nearly 6,000 annually.
As one expert quoted in an NPR story noted, "After speeding and the failure to yield, distractions are the number three cause [of pedestrian fatalities], particularly by electronic devices." This story offers important details:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/28/589453431/pedestrian-...
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Recently I walked across a crosswalk where a side street attached to a bigger street. There was no one in the crosswalk and no cars were turning.
I got almost across and someone in a parked car just backed into the crosswalk. (I hadn't been looking to see if there were drivers in parked cars.) He was parked only two feet from the crosswalk so he backed near me fast. I really couldn't get out of the way. The only reason I wasn't hurt is that I was paying attention. I knocked on his rear window to get his attention and then he braked. I was, like, 6 inches from his bumper.
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I wish pedestrians and drivers would stop using their smart phones while they're crossing the street and driving. A little more situational awareness would go a long way to increasing safety.
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Mk. I can't imagine what conversation or text cannot be put aside while walking or driving. First order of business is to be aware, look left and right, even when you think you have the right of way. A body cannot compete with a car and both people are required to help themselves. People are on their mobiles as soon as they leave their property and being alert on all sides is a necessity
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Not only that, but those people using their cell phones in the crosswalk think the crosswalk is their domain and they can walk as slowly as they want because they think the crosswalk protects them. They ignore many driver’s point of view that they are doing the pedestrian a favor by stopping, and the drivers want to continue on their way as fast as possible, but the pedestrian ambling across and yacking on her cellphone is thinking only about herself, not looking at the cars, which irritates the driver.
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@New York Times reader
While we should always be courteous to others and I don't agree with "distracted walking", the fact is that a crosswalk is supposed to protect a pedestrian. In fact it's a law which many drivers forget that they are supposed to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. I don't have to be on my phone for drivers to not stop for me in a crosswalk, I've experienced this many times.
And what about the elderly? They take more time and many have poor balance and gait issues. But I guess many drivers are too busy worrying about getting quickly to their destination to watch for pedestrians.
Cross-walking adds yet another danger to the list of activities that are adversely affected when interacting with a cell phone. People who do this are obviously or unconsciously making dangerous priority judgments that endanger their safety and other less deadly multi-tasking, but that probably diminish productivity, workflow and face-to-face human interactions. And children will mimic their caregivers which is another serious problem.
Smartphones may be smart but their users, not so much.
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This article appears to be talking about two different things: Using a cell phone while crossing the street (distraction) and walking "too" slow across the intersection.
I never look at my cell phone when crossing the street. If I happen to get a call I wait until I'm on the other side. My attention is focused only on cars and my intent is to get to the other side without being run over by aggressive drivers who don't seem to understand when I have the WALK signal--it's my turn to proceed, not their right to cut me off when they're making a turn, either right or left. Then there are those drivers who blow through stop signs or, worse, a red light.
However, I am disabled and a slow walker. I can't run or walk at a brisk pace. That's not my fault. I can only go at the pace which my body allows. I can't run or skip across the street.
Btw, I still see a lot of drivers yakking on their phones while driving. Why isn't this also a big issue? It's pedestrians versus tons of steel. Drivers are operating a killing machine. They should not be distracted, either.
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This is an excellent comment and hits many concerns that I share with the writer. A pedestrian against a machine that weighs over two tons is no match. Almost a sure death. And I hate to say it but there are simply TOO MANY car drivers who use their machine to aggressively force their way past -- and at times through! -- pedestrians! that car drivers should hold the controls, even when they are breaking the law, is absolutely unethical, wrong, dangerous, outrageous ... and criminal.
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@Norton
There was a crossing I used to make every working day. I had no disability and was faster then, but could not get all the way across unless I was almost jogging. I couldn't imagine navigating it if I was slowed in any way - a baby carriage, a walker, or simply being a 2 mile an hour walker. It was also located in an area with a lot of doctors offices, where it was likely some people Some of those I worked with did bring this to the attention of the city in question They did have other safer intersections - this one was, really, dedicated to keeping vehicles moving. It was never patrolled. It was never changed.
Then you have both the cell talkers, texters, AND the fact that speeding through yellow lights, and often running red lights has become the norm in some areas. Someone who has just accelerated for fear of missing the light can't decelerate to a stop in seconds.
Whether on my feet or driving, I see people ignoring the law every day -- but only see police stopping speeders. A little straightforward enforcement would rivet people's attention on the "safety " issues. Appeals to reason haven't worked.
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Yesterday, I saw a child of perhaps eight or nine, out walking his dog. It was a cute scene until I got closer and saw that he was wearing earbuds and that his eyes were glued to his phone. I hope that we'll soon reach a point that walking around with a phone in hand is just as socially unacceptable as having a cigarette between one's fingers.
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