What is the biggest pedestrian distraction?

We've all been through it: the infuriation of waiting for someone to dawdle across a pedestrian intersection, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings or speed. And when it's peak hour, well, that only takes the irritation levels go through the roof.

The chances are, according to a report by Austroads, the peak organisation of Australasian road transport and traffic agencies, that the 'culprit' is aged between 18-30 and is interacting with a smartphone.

Austroads says that smartphone use for texting or internet access while crossing (and a lot of the time with headphones on) is widespread for 18-30 year olds, with approximately 30 percent reporting high frequency of use, and the signs are obvious:

-- They walk more slowly;
-- Change direction more often;
-- Acknowledge others less;
-- Look left and right less;
-- Are less likely to look at traffic before starting to cross;
-- Miss more safe opportunities to cross;
-- Take longer to initiate crossing;
-- Are more more likely to cross unsafely into oncoming traffic;
-- Spend more time looking away from the road;
-- And make more errors than pedestrians who are not distracted.

In other words, as vulnerable road users, a large percentage of pedestrians in that 18-30 age bracket are literally running the gauntlet, day after day.

In Australia, pedestrians represent approximately 14 percent of road fatalities, accounting for 2022 deaths in the 10 years from 2003-2012. In New Zealand, the proportion of pedestrian deaths is around 11 percent of the annual road deaths, with 33 pedestrians being killed in 2012 and more than 370 pedestrians killed over the 2003-2012 period.

Meanwhile in Australia, there are 11.9 million adult smartphone users, and 94 percent of young adults aged 18-24 years old use a mobile phone.

Among the recommendations in the Austroads report (click here to access it) include a clear focus on targeting young people in high-volume areas, increasing pedestrian awareness of crash risk associated with distraction from phones when crossing, challenging perceptions that it's possible to cross safely while texting/using the internet; and encouraging young people to look out for, and model safe behaviour for, their friends.

Austroads has also touched on the issue of "drink walking", with alcohol a major cause of road death among pedestrians in Australia.

An analysis of Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) fatalities from 1996-1998 reported that of the 863 pedestrian deaths (aged 16 years and over) that occurred during that period, 35 percent had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 50mg/100 ml or greater, 240 of them having a BAC of 150 mg/100 ml or greater. These figures represent 35 percent and 28 percent of all pedestrian fatalities respectively. In a subsequent study that analysed the characteristics of 240 fatalities of intoxicated pedestrians between 1999 and 2001 in South Australia, it was found that 84 percent were male, with most under the age of 35.

Collisions occurred almost always at night, with Friday and Saturday nights over-represented. Most had been drinking for long periods of time, most often six hours or more, and most frequently at hotels or other people’s homes. In 25 percent of the cases, the fatality occurred while walking home.

What do you think? Have you had any bad pedestrian experiences?