In the article “Floor lights help ‘smartphone zombies’
keep eye on the road” Tan (2017), states that LED strips installed in walkways
creates safety awareness by helping smartphone addicts to stay alert on the
road. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be introducing a half-year pilot
program on the pricey LED strips at two different junctions due to large number
of pedestrians of “different demographics”. The LED features are conspicuous in
the day and resemble the conventional red and green man signals of the traffic
light. This project will allow the authority to evaluate the suitability and
the functional use of the feature in Singapore’s climate conditions.
Reports from the Traffic Police indicates a rise in
the number of pedestrian injuries and fatal accidents, such initiative will
make road crossing convenient and handy for all pedestrians and smartphone
addicts. Although statistics have shown the surge in traffic accident involving
pedestrians, it is uncertain if most of the accidents are actually due to “smartphone
zombies” phenomenon, which is highly debatable.
Firstly, there are no specific statistical data to
substantiate the evidence in Singapore, but there are news articles that
reported on the accidents involving pedestrians. According to an article “Using
your phone as you walk may get you in an accident” Lee (2015) reported that a group
of four undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University conducted a survey
on distracted walking. A total of 419 youth aged 17 to 25 were surveyed and 598
accidents were disclosed. From their findings, the three main causes of
distractions are listening to music, texting and talking on the phone. Other
consequences include trip and fall and horned by vehicles. The consequences
stated by these students are just minor, what happen if the consequences are
severe?
As the use of mobile gadgets have increasingly become part
of everyday life, taking eyes off from the road and being unaware of the
surrounding can threaten your life. In the article “Caught on dash cam: Girl,
checking phone, is hit while crossing road at green man” Ho (2015), a video of
a girl knocked down by a taxi during midnight circulated rapidly. In this video,
it can be seen that the young girl was crossing the traffic junction while
using her phone, oblivious to the on-coming taxi approaching her making a right
turn. As the taxi did not stop in time, she got hit. Although the traffic light
was in her favour, I feel that she should be alert and pay more attention to
her surroundings instead of assuming the vehicle will stop for her while
crossing the road.
From the two evidences shown above, engrossing in using
mobile devices will cause divided attention, reducing vision field which will
result in endangering the safety of the road users and oneself.
Lastly, from the article “20% jump in number of accident
involving elderly pedestrians” Ng (2017), reported that elderly pedestrians are
at a higher risk of danger, as according to the Singapore Traffic Police. 268
accidents cases were reported in 2016, an increase from 19.6 per cent in 2015.
Accidents which results in death was 28 per cent, of which 16 cases are due to
jaywalking. The reason being that elderly pedestrians have a slow reflex and hence
not able to react to fast incoming and outgoing traffic. Additionally, they
find it a hassle to cross the road at traffic junctions, where they will take short
cuts to cross the road, therefore resulting to the increase of traffic accidents.
In conclusion, the main cause to the increase in traffic
accidents is largely due to the elderly pedestrians jaywalking and not the
“smartphone zombie”. LED strips might be effective in tackling smartphone
addicts, however the responsibility still lies on individual to keep a lookout
in order to stay safe.
Reference:
Lee, P.
(2017) Using your phone as you walk may get you in an accident. Retrieved,
September 26,
2017, from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/using-your-phone-as-you-walk-may-get-you-in-an-accident
Ho, O. (2015, April 24). Caught on dash
cam: Girl, checking phone, is hit while crossing road at green
man. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/caught-on-dash-cam-girl-checking-phone-is-hit-while-crossing-road-at-green-man
Ng, K. (2017, February 16). 20% jump in number of accident involving
elderly pedestrians. Retrieved
