The cell phone has lost some of its appeal as a solution to all the evils in the world. Speculations that it can cause brain or ear cancer have not yet been confirmed, and since mom, dad, grandma and grandpa wipe and press it at least as often as their offspring, the educational warning to abstain from cell phones is hardly credible anymore. Noise pollution? In buses and trains, it is now almost always the seniors who do not mute the ringtone and leave the loudspeaker on, so that all passengers have to endure the screaming speaker and the person they are talking to.
For active road users, cell phone use is associated with considerable dangers. In a car, just the driver reaching for a cell phone increases the risk of an accident fivefold. Anyone who writes or reads messages while driving increases the risk of a crash tenfold. There are also various dangers lurking for pedestrians, as researchers from Canada are now showing. The scientists from the University of British Columbia document this in the specialist magazine Accident analysis and preventionthat the The risk of accidents and near misses increases by 45 percent if messages are written or read while walking or the cell phone is in other use.
You make safer decisions without a cell phone in your hand
For their analysis, Tarek Sayed’s researchers evaluated recordings from surveillance cameras taken at busy intersections in Vancouver. It was found that pedestrians who were distracted by their cell phones were less likely to pay attention to their surroundings, usually did not adapt their speed and route to requirements and were therefore less safe in the hustle and bustle of the big city. They were less able to react to sudden dangers and, if in doubt, to stop in front of a zebra crossing.
“Those pedestrians who were not distracted by their cell phones, however, made safer decisions in traffic,” says traffic expert Sayed. “They kept a greater distance from the vehicles and generally adapted themselves and their behavior better to the traffic.” The researchers observed that a number of drivers also behaved more cautiously as soon as they saw pedestrians distracted by their cell phones: They stepped off the accelerator more often apparently realized that they had to expect unpredictable movements.
The Canadian researchers’ results could be used to defuse sensitive traffic situations. It is conceivable to extend the green phase for pedestrians at traffic lights or to use audio signals to draw attention to particular risk locations in the city. Warning messages could possibly even be sent to cell phones to point out dangerous intersections. Strictly defined cell phone ban zones are also conceivable if the risk of accidents there cannot be reduced in any other way. Since people don’t like to be regulated by bans, city planners could also raise pedestrian crossings slightly above street level, according to the scientists. Then a number of passers-by would still be distracted when they use their cell phones – but they would at least be seen better in the fight for survival in the big city.