Speaking Of Distracted Walking

[jh]

This topic reminds me of something that happened to me yesterday.

I stopped at a traffic light with a posted crosswalk but no crosswalk lights. Guy was standing there while we were waiting on the red signal holding a small child. He was apparently texting on his phone while waiting for a red light and vehicles to stop. As I was in the lane next to him I noticed he kept texting while we were stopped until he realized "hey it's red--time for me to go". Unfortunately it turned green BEFORE he started walking and he STILL decided to walk across four lanes of traffic while we had the light. Almost got run over in one of the lanes from a car who had just come up on the light. I almost rolled down my window and was going to yell at him to get his head out of his.......phone and pay attention to his surroundings but he was too far away to hear me. For Pete's sake what is so important in a situation like this to get yourself and I would assume your son possibly seriously injured or killed.

I remember Hawaii or is it just Honolulu recently passed a law banning texting (or looking at your phone) while crossing a street.

[mattkime]

Just be glad he wasn’t driving a motor vehicle.

[Numo]

Cellphone may have distracted Minnesota teen pedestrian struck and killed in St. Louis Park

The 15-year-old boy was hit by two vehicles as he crossed the highway at Texas Avenue.
By Tim Harlow Star Tribune FEBRUARY 16, 2018 — 10:26PM

A teenage boy who was struck and killed Thursday night as he crossed Hwy. 7 in St. Louis Park may have been distracted by his cellphone and might not have seen the oncoming vehicles, the State Patrol said.

Daunte Jamal Moore, 15, of Hopkins, “did not intentionally run into traffic,” said Lt. Tiffani Nielson of the State Patrol.

Preliminary reports suggest that Moore may have been making or receiving a call on a cellphone when he stepped onto the highway about 6:20 p.m. at Texas Avenue, Nielson said.

A State Patrol reconstruction team on Friday continued to investigate the crash, which shut down both directions of Hwy. 7 in the vicinity of the Shoppes of Knollwood for several hours Thursday night.

Moore was walking in the left lane of westbound Hwy. 7 when the driver of a Acura MDX passed through a green light at Texas Avenue and hit him. The force of the impact propelled him into the eastbound lanes, where he was struck by a BMW, the State Patrol said.

The BMW driver, Vance P. Dornisch, 24, of Minnetonka, and the Acura driver, Donald F. Noack, 59, also of Minnetonka, stopped at the scene. Neither was injured, and both are cooperating with authorities.

It was not immediately clear if any charges will be filed, Nielson said.

http://www.startribune.com/cellphone-may...474312343/

[NewtonMP2100]

....happens all the time and not just on the street......people are looking at their screens addicted their smartphone......but never paying attention......

....saw someone recently texting while biking [ really, the text can't wait until you get off the bike? ].......

[OWC Jamie]

we'll have to ban those nasty cellphones

[C(-)ris]

NewtonMP2100 wrote:
....happens all the time and not just on the street......people are looking at their screens addicted their smartphone......but never paying attention......

....saw someone recently texting while biking [ really, the text can't wait until you get off the bike? ].......

How do you know they were texting? Could have been changing music or using Mpas to route a course. I have my phone mounted to my bike handlebars but I’m never testing. Never the less, it is a distraction.

[NewtonMP2100]

....the had the cellphone on one hand, one hand on the handlebars and they were obviously typing.....could have been answering email but guessing it was probably text.....

[rz]

I was driving down a street/highway recently where the speed limit was 45. We approached a light that was green, and had been for a while. Some guy was walking briskly from the side, and didn't even stop... he started to enter the crosswalk in front of the guy in front of me. Because I was situationally aware, I knew nobody was next to me, and I swerved into the left lane, and the guy in front of me had to slam on his brakes. Thankfully the pedestrian stopped, because even though the guy braked, he would have hit the pedestrian.

Of course, the pedestrian started screaming at the driver... It's times like this I'm glad I have a dashcam.

[DP]

Friend told me his friend got a ticket (here in MI) for texting while stopped at a red light and he was outraged! But the law in Michigan is no texting while driving including waiting at traffic lights...

[Speedy]

DP wrote:
Friend told me his friend got a ticket (here in MI) for texting while stopped at a red light and he was outraged! But the law in Michigan is no texting while driving including waiting at traffic lights...

Same in most every state, if not all states.