November 19, 2014

Risky Pedestrians

More than a quarter of motorists have admitted to nearly hitting a pedestrian who was distracted by their mobile phones.

The figure for pedestrian casualties on UK roads in 2013 was over 24,000 with 27% of motorists claiming that they have had to swerve or break to avoid hitting phone-using pedestrians while 8% admitted to actually hitting them.

31% of pedestrians say their mobile phones distract them from looking for traffic while 14% admitted to crossing the road without looking because they were using their phone.

66% of mobile distraction was due to texting, whilst talking on the phone was second (57%). Following these, the most common distractions amongst pedestrians were Facebook (23%), sending messages via Whatsapp (18%), checking emails (13%) and taking selfies (3%).

There is currently much being done to raise awareness for distracted motorists, however, pedestrians clearly need to be made aware as well since all road users need to be responsible for safety on the road, not just motorists.

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