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One in six uses a smartphone while crossing roads
Date: 29 October 2015 | Author: Daniel Puddicombe
Almost one in six people (57%) have admitted to using smartphones while crossing roads, new data from Ford has revealed.
The manufacturer's statistics also showed that nearly half (47%) of those surveyed admitted to talking on the phone as they crossed roads.
A third (32%) also admitted listening to music while walking across roads, while 14% said they text while doing so.
According to Ford's survey of 10,000 people across Europe, most admitted their behaviour was dangerous, meanwhile 60% said they felt safer knowing that autonomous vehicles could intervene or mitigate an incident if the driver did not respond to in-cab warnings.
Those aged 18-24 are most likely to have used mobile devices (86%), talked on the phone (68%), listened to music (62%), texted (34%) and had an accident or near-miss (22%) when walking across a road.
Government data suggests that 18,000 pedestrians were injured in road accidents in 2014, with people failing to look properly and pedestrians being in a hurry listed as the mains of the incidents.
"It's one thing to walk along the pavement with headphones on listening to music, but stepping into a road while texting, playing a game or browsing online is extremely dangerous," said Jim Graham, manager at Ford Driving Skills for Life.
