The NHAW SAFETY IVational Safety Council in the United States says enforcement will be crucial now that Honolulu's move to ban pedestrians walking on the street while using their phone or an electronic device has come into force.
The council is a non profit non governmental public service organization promoting health and safety nationwide.
The distracted walking bill was signed 90 days ago and it is now law and applies to all pedestrians.
Maureen Vogel told Sara Vui-Talitu that the safety of pedestrians is now much more of an issue in this digital age.
Photo: 123RF
Transcript
MAUREEN VOGEL: Well distracted walking has really become a serious issue on the roadways. And we are seeing rises in pedestrian deaths, some of the highest numbers that we have seen in more than two decades. And we are also seeing high numbers in distracted driving accidents and so we really do need folks both inside and outside of vehicles to be paying more attention to what is going on and Honolulu has taken a leadership role in that way and its putting more pressure now on pedestrians to pay better attention.,
SARA VUI-TALITU. Will it really improve safety though? And will people be able to do it straight away?
MV: So when we look at behaviour change there are three elements that are really critical. You need good education and for people to understand what the risks are. You need strong laws and then you need to enforce those laws. So it is education, legislation and enforcement and so what you really need to do when it comes to distracted walking and all traffic safety issues is that we need for folks to understand what their biggest risks are, and then we need to be able to enforce any laws that are already on the books or we need to pass new ones if it is an emerging issue. Distracted walking is an emerging issue it is not something we have always dealt with but we are really dealing with it now given the proliferation of cell phones so it is important to start looking at it with a different lens.
SV: Are the other US states getting on board with a similar type of law?
MV: To our knowledge, Honolulu is the first city to pass a law, an ordinance. We know that other areas and other counties and other municipalities in the US have looked at this issue but Honolulu is the first we are aware of to put a law on the books.
SV: So I guess it is a matter of seeing how things go now?
MV: Yes right, exactly and you know laws are only as effective as they are enforced so it will come down to enforcing these laws but also helping people to understand why this makes them safer. If they understand why pedestrian deaths are going up, if they understand the risks to their safety when they are looking at their phone instead of their environment, if they understand all these things they really will take steps and help themselves to be safer. And so we are really hoping that the education portion of this, really kicks in as well.
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