Cell Phones Kill Pedestrians Too, Not Just Drivers

111 pedestrians were killed in Israel in 2017. That’s 111 too many. According to the ‘Green Light’ organization (‘Ohr Yarok’ in Hebrew) 23 of them were busy with their cell phones either looking at them, texting or listening to music and not hearing the oncoming car. Or Yarok brings us these sad statistics in order to teach the public rules of traffic safety. Their volunteers spread across 131 municipalities or councils and took a survey of 6,260 pedestrians.

Observing the pedestrians it came out that 36% of those observed crossed illegally and 13% didn’t use a crosswalk. 11% used their cell phone and another 10% looked at their phones or listened to music while crossing. 64% did cross properly.

47% of all pedestrians killed while crossing were elderly people totaling 52 elderly people; ten more than the previous year. 13 children below age 14 were also killed while crossing streets last year. Police report the main reason for pedestrian fatalities in 2016 was drivers not giving pedestrians the right of way. The second reason was the pedestrians’ behavior which included crossing while doing things with their cell phone.

Police report a worrying statistic about driving and using cell phones saying that it is the number one cause of car fatalities in Israel. In 2017 speeding tickets were issued 2.5 times more than the previous year and speeding tickets were also 3 times more than the cell phone while driving tickets issued.