Pursuant to Australia's six States and two Territories legislation that
impose traffic fines for
Jaywalking,
'Articles and Publications' in Section (A) below provide a welter of evidence that
a financial penalty/fine is necessary to awaken too many of Australian pedestrians that the
recent influx of Pedestrian Smartphone Distraction,
(colloquially known as Smombering)
is killing and seriously injuring a lot of
Australian pedestrians at a material cost to our
Public Pursesthat are already under funded
* proposes a
monetary fine for all pedestrians,
except school children,
who are so pre-occupied
looking at
their mobile
phone whilst
crossing at a pedestrian crossing that they do not attempt to make eye contact
with any approaching motorist/s;
and
*
suggests a $150 fine
for a first infringement and a $200 fine for each subsequent similar
violation.
A national website would list the names of school children that had similarly
infringed (listing the name of school child, name of school, date, particular pedestrian
crossing, State or Territory). Such a website would enthuse schools
across the country to the merits of their students not transgressing
Future revenue from State and Territory
fines for
Smombering
be directed to long term care costs for Australians suffering a
traumatic brain injury (TBI) or a
spinal cord injury (SCI) where the
incidence/frequency have both
recently increased
Articles and Publications (from
Australia, USA, UK and Canada) concerning the dangers of pedestrians Smombering (zombies
gawking on their
smartphone) while
crossing streets. Particularly relevant to unsignalised street
crossings (ie pedestrian crossings)
in large Australian cities
"The report 'Look Up - keeping pedestrians safe'
includes an observational study of 26,390
pedestrians across three intersections in the Sydney CBD and one in Parramatta.
36 per cent
crossed the road while distracted by their smartphone or wearing earphones
Almost eight per
cent (7.5%) crossed the road illegally
Over three per
cent (3.4%) crossed illegally while using their smartphone or wearing
earphones.
Pedestrian trauma accounts for 17 per cent of all deaths on NSW roads and
nine per cent of serious injuries. More than 1,900 pedestrians are killed or
hospitalised from road traffic crashes each year and in 2018, 67 pedestrians
lost their lives."
Distractedwalkingisaformofinattentionalblindness–when you focus hard on one thing such as texting you might not
noticeunexpectedthingsenteringyourvisualfieldsuchasan
oncomingcar.Distractionscanimpairpedestrians’awareness of their
surroundings, resulting in slower crossing times and unsafe pedestrian
behaviours.5
Honolulu,Hawaii:
InOctober2017,becamethe firstcitytofinepedestriansforusinganelectronic device when
crossing the road.11
Montclair, California:
Introduced
a
ban
in
January
2018
on using a mobile phonewhile
crossing the road.12
Researchshowsthat89percentofsurveyedAustralians own a smartphone.6With such a high penetration rate of
smartphones,itisnosurprisetoseeinattentionalblindness occurring on
footpaths.
"An observational study by Monash University Accident Research Centre has found that around 20 per cent of
pedestrians in Melbourne are distracted by smartphones.
A total of 4,129 pedestrians were observed across eight locations between
September 2017 and June 2019, with the findings publicly released in a new
report through MUARC’s Baseline Research Program.
Researchers observed 814 pedestrians (20%) using a portable device while
walking, with headphone use and texting/interacting with a device (38% and
37% respectively) the most prominent behaviours.
Thirty-one per cent of those distracted pedestrians were involved in a
safety-critical incident. The most common of these events was failing to
conduct a head check before crossing the road. Forty-two per cent of
smartphone users committed this error, compared to 26% of non-smartphone
users.
The report recommended numerous countermeasures in the categories of
infrastructure, technology, regulation, and
behaviour (i.e. education campaigns).
Regulatory countermeasures would prohibit pedestrians from using smartphone
in high-traffic volumes areas, ........"
4. Below is an extract from PEDESTRIAN DISTRACTION
FROM SMARTPHONES written by the Accident Research Centre at Monash
University in July 2022 that informs that fines are levied in three cities in the USA
for texting whilst walking using a crosswalk (pedestrian crossing):
"Internationally, however, there is legislation in place for texting while
walking using a crosswalk. In the United States of America several states have
legislation in place, for example; the city of Rexburg, Idaho impose a
USD$101.50 fine for the first offence and USD$201.50 for second offence,
thereafter a USD$51.50 court cost will also be added to the previous amount
(Retting & Schwartz, 2016; Rexburg Police Department, n.d).
In Hawaii, Honolulu
the fine is USD$35 for the first offence, USD$75 for the second offence and
USD$99 for a third offence if cited in the same year.
In Salt Lake City, Utah
distracted pedestrians are subject to a USD$50 fine with repeated offences
incurring a USD$100 fee (Northwest staff, 2017)."
Are less likely to notice
other objects in their environment, even if those objects are highly
salient/prominent;
Select
smaller crossing gaps in traffic;
Are less likely to look at
traffic before starting to cross;
Are less likely to wait for
traffic to stop;
Are less likely to look at
traffic while crossing;
Are more likely to walk out in
front of an approaching car;
Are more likely to be
inattentionally blind; and
Pay less attention to traffic
(children);"
Conclusion (in 2013 - ten years ago)
The number of pedestrian deaths and injuries is on the rise and will likely
accelerate as more pedestrians use increasingly sophisticated, and attention
absorbing, hand-held mobile devices. There is already discussion in some
government assemblies as to whether use of such devices in crosswalks should
be made illegal.
Stay tuned. It looks like the Distracted Pedestrians by Digital Devices
scenario is about to repeat itself.
"Officers cited a number of pedestrians in the Flinders Street
and Spencer Street area who crossed the road without looking while talking or texting on
mobile phones or listening to personal music players."
The Pedestrian Council of Australia has
urged the Australian government
to crack down on distracted pedestrians by issuing a
$200 fine
for listening to music or texting when crossing the road.
Chairman of the
Pedestrian Council of AustraliaMr
Harold Scruby believes
that enforcing punishment is the only way to reduce the incidence of
pedestrian based accidents, “I think if most people got a $200 fine they
would think twice about doing it again,” Mr Scruby said."
"Transport Accident
Commission chief executive ,Joe Calafiore, said 196 pedestrians had
been killed on Victoria's roads over the past five years,with
distraction emerging as a major factor."
"Around 6,590
pedestrians died in car accidents in
2019, according to a
report from the Governors Highway Safety Association.
This number was 5% higher than the previous year. However, the
number was even more alarming when compared to figures from over a decade
earlier. While the number of pedestrian fatalities had decreased by
more than 2,000 from 1989 to 2009, this trend quickly reversed over the last
decade."
"Smartphone
texting is linked to compromised pedestrian safety, with higher rates of
‘near misses’ and failure to look left and right before crossing a road than
either listening to music or talking on the phone, indicates a pooled
analysis of the available evidence, published online in the journal Injury
Prevention.
Worldwide,
around 270,000 pedestrians die every year, accounting for around a fifth of
all road traffic deaths.
‘Pedestrian
distraction’ has become a recognised safety issue as more and more people
use their smartphones or hand held devices while walking on the pavement and
crossing roads.
Text messaging
emerged as the potentially most harmful behaviour. It was associated with
significantly lower rates of looking left and right before and/or
while crossing the road, and with moderately increased rates of collisions
and close calls with other pedestrians or vehicles.
Nevertheless, they point out: “Given the ubiquity of smartphones, social media,
apps, digital video and streaming music, which has infiltrated most aspects of
daily life, distracted walking and street cross will be a road safety issue for
the foreseeable future.”
"But, in 2019, 6,200 pedestrians were
killed or had life-changing injuries on UK roads. More than one in five of those people
(1,415) were aged 17 or under – that’s around a whole class of schoolchildren
EVERY week. Accident data shows those aged 11 to 14 are the most likely to be
killed or badly hurt – around 50 EVERY month.
The number of 11 to
14-year- old pedestrians being killed or seriously injured went up every year
between 2015 and 2019, from 548 to 606. That’s more than one child every week.
The researchers found
that nearly a third (31.37%) of road crossings were made by pupils with a phone
or other device, and that they looked left and right less frequently when they
had them. They concluded that the safety of school-age pedestrians is affected
by mobile phones and music players.
A teenager died after
walking in front of a bus while distracted by her mobile phone. Sian Ellis, 15,
suffered fatal injuries when she was hit by a double-decker bus outside her
school in Leicestershire on 28 January 2019. The accident happened shortly after
3:30pm, just metres from the gates of King Edward VII College. Giving evidence
at the inquest (official investigation) into her death, PC Stuart Bird, a
collision investigator with Leicestershire Police, said CCTV footage taken
shortly before the tragedy showed a female matching Sian’s description “walking
through the school grounds wearing a scarf around her head and looking down at
her mobile phone”. His colleague, Detective Constable John Borlase,
said witnesses had told him Sian was looking down at her mobile and was
also using headphones."
"After the
initial observations, Safe Kids Grand Forks put up lawn signs around
the school and spray-painted safety messaging on sidewalks in front
of every crosswalk: Heads Up, Phones Down. A simple message,
but nearly 60 kids under the age of 19 are hit by cars every day
in the United States. Safe Kids Worldwide data showed that 1 in
4 high school students and 1 in 6 middle school students are
distracted while walking."
"Pedestrian deaths in the U.S. have reached their highest level in 40 years.
Using funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law, Transportation
Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, is spearheading the allocation of $5 billion to
state and local governments through a federal grant known as
Safe Streets and Roads for All
to try and prevent roadway deaths."
"Results show that around
14.4% of pedestrians were distracted while crossing. Interestingly, while
distracted pedestrians were more likely not to observe traffic while
crossing, they were less likely to violate traffic signals or cross outside
the marked crosswalks."
"Texting and scrolling
on touchscreens has sent pedestrian injuries soaring by 800 per cent.
The
findings show people who text or browse the internet while walking were
significantly less likely to look left and right before crossing the road. They
also took longer to cross a road."
"The researchers found
“gait velocity is reduced when using a cell phone while talking or texting,”
that “navigational errors occur when texting while walking” and “texting while
walking produces greater interference than talking on a cell phone.”
“Cell phone use among
pedestrians leads to increased cognitive distraction, reduced situation
awareness and increases in unsafe behavior,” according to the abstract of the
study in Gait and Posture online. “Performing a dual-task, such as talking or
texting with a cell phone while walking, may interfere with working memory and
result in walking errors.”
Below is a Comment by a reader of this article, Ariel Resto
Branchburg, NJ -
Aug.
23, 2018
"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."
"Using mobile phones can be a source of distraction for pedestrians when crossing
streets,it is especially dangerous at
unsignalized intersections.
To
investigate the effects of mobile phone use on pedestrian crossing behavior and
safety at unsignalized intersections, we carried out a field survey at three
selected locations in Wuhan, China.
Then, the pedestrians’ crossing behavior characteristics were statistically
analyzed, and a logistic regression model was established to quantitatively
analyze pedestrian safety.
The results showed that 15.6% of pedestrians used mobile phones when crossing
unsignalized intersections and 64.1% of them were young pedestrians.
Pedestrians using mobile phones while crossing unsignalized intersections were
at higher risk of accident, crossed more slowly, and were less likely to look at
traffic status than those not using a mobile phone."
Bill 6
which is awaiting the mayor’s approval, would make it illegal to look at a
phone, tablet, gaming device, or anything electronic while crossing the
street".
"In
Rexburg, Idaho, fines are already a reality. Since May, anyone found walking across
a street while texting is subject to a $50 fine.
Students in the college town seemed supportive of the law, when quizzed by
journalists. One remarked: "I think it's a good rule so we don't get hit by
cars."
Below is an extract from a webpage titled Move-In on the Rexburg
Idaho"
Pedestrians who cross a street outside of a designated crosswalk or against a
traffic signal (examples of jaywalking) are not in an area where drivers expect
to see them. This results in pedestrians getting run over by vehicles
unknowingly. Jaywalking also puts a burden on drivers, who may have to suddenly
brake or swerve to avoid hitting a pedestrian. This can lead to accidents and
injuries for both the pedestrian and the driver.
Regulation
230of the NSW Road Rules 2014 prescribes
that pedestrians must take the shortest route possible and must not stay on the
road for any longer than is necessary to safely cross. Breaching this rule
carries a fine of up to $2,200 if the matter is determined in court. Breach of
Regulations
231,
232,
233and
234for jaywalking can result in a fine of up
to $2,200 if the matter is unsuccessfully contested in court.
"Approximately
20,800 Australians are living with a spinal cord injury (SCI). These
injuries are mostly the result of traumatic causes and are incurred by
people under the age of 65.
The
impact of an SCI on a person is devastating -one third of Australians with
an SCI have a severe injury, resulting in no movement in the affected parts
of their body. This limits mobility, affecting independence, and impairs
bodily functions such as breathing, digestion and sexual function. As a
result, people living with an SCI require substantial support and assistance
in daily activities, are less likely to return to work and suffer from
poorer health and wellbeing.
These factors all contribute to high lifetime costs to the government,
individuals and their families, and losses in broader economic productivity.
The total lifetime cost of spinal cord injuries in 2020 is estimated at
$75.4bn. This is approximately $3.7bn per year."
"Total costs of Traumatic Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury were estimated
to be $8.6 billion and $2.0 billion in the base calendar year (2008),
respectively, and accounted for 30,458 and 5,090 disability-adjusted life
years (DALYs) respectively. The financial cost per case per year of severe
TBI was higher than all comparator conditions, except muscular dystrophy.
Costs for quadriplegia were higher than all comparator conditions. The
financial costs and Burden of Disease associated with Traumatic Brain Injury
are substantial."
