Pedestrians who look at their phones while crossing the road in Honolulu slapped with fines as new landmark law comes into force

Pedestrians caught looking at their phone and crossing the road will be hit with fines.
Rex
Francesca Gillett25 October 2017

People caught crossing the road while looking at their phone will be slapped with fines from today as a new law comes into force in Honolulu.

The new rules, announced earlier this summer by Hawaiian authorities, hope to cut the number of deaths and injuries from road accidents involving the so-called “smartphone zombies”.

Pedestrians will be handed a $35 fee if using their phone while crossing roads – but the amount will rise up to $99 for repeat offenders.

A study in the US found phone-related distractions caused more than 11,000 injuries in America between 2000 and 2011 while “distracted walking” now appears on the National Safety Council’s list of the biggest risks for accidents.

The new ban, thought to be the first of its kind in the world, will apply in the city of Honolulu and surrounding county.

The city councillor who proposed the policy, Brandon Elefante, called it a “milestone legislation that sets the bar high for safety”, the New York Times reported.

According to the city’s mayor Kirk Caldwell in July, when the ban was announced, Honolulu counts more pedestrians hit on crossings than nearly any other city in the country.

In the UK, around 20 potentially dangerous incidents occur each day at crossings, data from Road Safety Analysis and Transport Research Laboratory found.

Earlier this month designers unveiled a new hi-tech crossing which alerts drivers when a pedestrian using a mobile phone steps out In front of traffic.

The crossing uses dynamic road and pavement patterns to grab the attention of pedestrians engrossed in their mobile phones
PA

The so-called smart crossing features LED lights which illuminate based on the movement of other road users.

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