Impact of social and technological distraction on pedestrian crossing behaviour: an observational study

Abstract

ObjectivesThe objective of the present work was to study the impact of technological and social distraction on cautionary behaviours and crossing times in pedestrians.MethodsPedestrians were observed at 20 high-risk intersections during 1 of 3 randomly assigned time windows in 2012. Observers recorded demographic and behavioural information, including use of a mobile device (talking on the phone, text messaging, or listening to music). We examined the association between distraction and crossing behaviours, adjusting for age and gender. All multivariate analyses were conducted with random effect logistic regression (binary outcomes) and random effect linear regression (continuous outcomes), accounting for clustering by site.ResultsObservers recorded crossing behaviours for 1102 pedestrians. Nearly one-third (29.8%) of all pedestrians performed a distracting activity while crossing. Distractions included listening to music (11.2%), text messaging (7.3%) and using a handheld phone (6.2%). Text messaging, mobile phone use and talking with a companion increased crossing time. Texting pedestrians took 1.87 additional seconds (18.0%) to cross the average intersection (3.4 lanes), compared to undistracted pedestrians. Texting pedestrians were 3.9 times more likely than undistracted pedestrians to display at least 1 unsafe crossing behaviour (disobeying the lights, crossing mid-intersection, or failing to look both ways). Pedestrians listening to music walked more than half a second (0.54) faster across the average intersection than undistracted pedestrians.ConclusionsDistracting activity is common among pedestrians, even while crossing intersections. Technological and social distractions increase crossing times, with text messaging associated with the highest risk. Our findings suggest the need for intervention studies to reduce risk of pedestrian injury.

Types of smartphone usage and relations with problematic smartphone behaviors: The role of content consumption vs. social smartphone use

“…For example, problematic smartphone use is related to traffic accidents (Cazzulino, Burke, Muller, Arbogast, & Upperman, 2014;Thompson, Rivara, Ayyagari, & Ebel, 2013), shoulder and neck problems (Shan et al, 2013;Xie, Szeto, Dai, & Madeleine, 2016), sleep impairment (Demirci, Akgonul, & Akpinar, 2015;Eyvazlou, Zarei, Rahimi, & Abazari, 2016), academic problems (Seo, Park, Kim, & Park, 2016), and poor physical fitness (Rebold, Sheehan, Dirlam, Maldonado, & O'Donnell, 2016). Furthermore, problematic smartphone use is related to mental health problems such as anxiety and depression (reviewed in .…”

Patterns of Mobile Device Use by Caregivers and Children During Meals in Fast Food Restaurants

“…[1][2][3] Parental use of mobile devices in playgrounds, restaurants, or other public venues with children has received criticism in the lay press, 4,5 with concern that parental distraction by these devices may affect child safety or emotional well-being. Studies have demonstrated unsafe driving 6 and pedestrian behavior 7 while people are distracted by mobile devices, but the ways in which devices are being used around children, and the parenting behaviors associated with such use, have not been investigated.…”

Effect of Electronic Device Use on Pedestrian Safety: A Literature Review1

“…The analysis found that pedestrians who were text messaging took over half a second longer to cross each lane (0.55 s, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.75) and pedestrians who were listening to music walked faster than undistracted pedestrians by an average of 0.16s per lane. Thompson et al (2013) also examined the association between whether or not pedestrians looked both ways and pedestrian distractions, adjusted for age and gender. The results revealed that some distractions were associated with risky pedestrian behaviors, with text messaging appearing particularly risky.…”

“…• Using a fixed interval selection procedure, Thompson et al (2013) found that texting pedestrians took over a half-second longer to cross each lane than non-distracted pedestrians.…”