Honolulu Targets 'Smartphone Zombies' With Crosswalk Ban (reuters.com)

Templer421 shares news from Reuters: A ban on pedestrians looking at mobile phones or texting while crossing the street will take effect in Hawaii's largest city in late October, as Honolulu becomes the first major U.S. city to pass legislation aimed at reducing injuries and deaths from "distracted walking." The ban comes as cities around the world grapple with how to protect phone-obsessed "smartphone zombies" from injuring themselves by stepping into traffic or running into stationary objects. Starting Oct. 25, Honolulu pedestrians can be fined between $15 and $99, depending on the number of times police catch them looking at a phone or tablet device as they cross the street, Mayor Kirk Caldwell told reporters gathered near one of the city's busiest downtown intersections on Thursday... People making calls for emergency services are exempt from the ban... Opponents of the Honolulu law argued it infringes on personal freedom and amounts to government overreach.
Meanwhile, the city of London has tried putting pads on their lamp posts "to soften the blow for distracted walkers."

Comments

Maybe I am an asshole but

[Baron_Yam]

If you can't pull your eyes away from your phone long enough to safely cross a street... whoever hits you is helping Darwin and they're the one and only person getting my sympathy.

Legislation SHOULD be passed... freeing the motorist from liability.

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[dgatwood]

The problem with laws like this is that they're useless and backwards. Pedestrians looking at their phones while crossing the street aren't a problem. They cross the street, and they're done. The problem is people unintentionally crossing a street while looking at their phones. It's the sidewalk that's dangerous, because people who are looking down at their phones don't necessarily realize when the sidewalk ends and the road begins.

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[TheRaven64]

The goal is to protect the motorist. Even if the pedestrian completely deserved to be removed from the gene pool, accidentally killing someone who walks into the street is quite traumatic and the idiots looking at their phones shouldn't have the right to inflict that on a random stranger.

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[LynnwoodRooster]

We also need to aggressively prosecute bikers and peds who violate traffic laws. Crossing against lights, holding up traffic, changing lanes without signalling, etc... Right?

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[easyTree]

I've emailed President Trump and asked him to take a look at it. Hopefully he takes up the cause.

The solution might be to build a nice solid wall around every pedestrian.

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[CanadianMacFan]

The first thing that needs to happen is the conflict between cyclists and motorists has to go away. Each side blames the other. For the most part I'm a pedestrian but I cycle a bit too. I'm one of those few cyclists that obey the traffic laws. I probably ride my bike better than most people drive and the reason I don't drive is because I would follow the rules too closely and it would cause me too much frustration dealing with other drivers.

There are plenty of bad drivers of both sides and they need to shape up. If they spent some more time taking care of improving how they drove/rode instead of complaining about other people we would all be better off.

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[jeffreyjakucyk]

The cliff and the rope aren't actively dangerous. Motor vehicles are. It's the driver's responsibility to be aware of their surroundings and act accordingly. If there's a lot of people around, such as in a downtown setting, then a very low speed is appropriate, despite what the speed limit might be.

More comparable situations would be someone throwing darts or knives in their front lawn, and some kit wanders by and gets struck. "I feel terrible" isn't going to get you out of being prosecuted. Same for shooting a gun up in the air and inadvertently striking someone half a mile away. Driving a motor vehicle is similarly dangerous, and it's the motorist's responsibility to operate in as safe a manner as possible considering the conditions.

The only reason motorists are usually given a pass is because of lobbying and propaganda from the likes of AAA back in the 1910s and 1920s. They invented the term (and crime) of jaywalking in an attempt to redefine the street as a place for cars/vehicles, despite that not having been the case for the entirety of human history. They provided boilerplate police report forms to municipalities to use, which described not "car crashes" or "collisions" but "accidents" that absolved the motorist of responsibility. Before then you'd see headlines about "motor killings" describing motorists as the entitled, self-important, and reckless operators of dangerous machines that they were and still are. But since nearly everyone drives now, people don't think "oh wow it could've been me that was hit by that careless driver" they think "oh wow it could've been me getting arrested for driving carelessly and hitting someone."

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[Gussington]

(people) looking at their phones while crossing the street aren't a problem. .

the problem is people crossing a street while looking at their phones

. Wait. What?

It's the sidewalk that's dangerous, because people who are looking down at their phones don't necessarily realize when the sidewalk ends and the road begins.

Our council has installed flashing red lights embedded into the road right on the kerbside specifically to target screen zombies. It still doesn't help.
The problem is absolutely people concentrating on their devices instead of the potential danger around them. I ride a motorbike and I almost hit these people every_single_day. I've actually broken my horn button from using it so much to get these fuckwits to pay attention.

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[Gussington]

But I would be willing to gamble that 90% or more of cyclists who are killed by cars are actually in the wrong, per traffic laws. .

I'll take that bet. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/... Sure this is from my neck of the woods, but I'm sure road user behaviour in your location isn't that much different.

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[tlhIngan]

Our council has installed flashing red lights embedded into the road right on the kerbside specifically to target screen zombies. It still doesn't help.
The problem is absolutely people concentrating on their devices instead of the potential danger around them. I ride a motorbike and I almost hit these people every_single_day. I've actually broken my horn button from using it so much to get these fuckwits to pay attention.

The mayor of a local suburban city nearly mowed down a pedestrian who just stepped out onto the street in the middle between two cars. Without stopping, and then chewed out the mayor for nearly hitting her. She was on her phone and of course, never looked both ways to make sure her path was clear.

The mayor wrote up an "apology" on Facebook that garnered a lot of attention.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

This was the middle of the street - an intersection with a crosswalk was only a few more steps away.

What I don't get is what is so damned interesting on the phone that one completely forgets the rules their parents taught them when they were young, like looking both ways before crossing the street. I mean, this is something so basic. Considering the potential risk - injury is extremely common. People have knocked out their teeth from walking into lampposts, benches and other sidewalk furniture. People have fallen down street elevator holes (they walk right into the raised door and fall into the basement), or into water fountains.

So what is so damn interesting that it's worth risking minor injuries that are quite preventable? Or major injury - I can't imagine anything on the screen being so interesting that would justify even spending a day in a hospital.

Yes, I've tried it - I wanted to look up something on my phone and I just couldn't do it and walk without the fear of running into something or someone. I stepped aside and finished looking up the information - there wasn't anything on it I could justify spending hours at a doctor's office getting fixed up for - it was cheaper time-wise to step aside, spend 30 seconds with the phone in relative safety, then resume walking to my destination. Quicker too, since if I got injured, it could be hours at a doctors office, or days at a hospital, or 30 seconds simply stopped safely out of the way.

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[schleimkeim]

The problem is people unintentionally crossing a street while looking at their phones. It's the sidewalk that's dangerous, because people who are looking down at their phones don't necessarily realize when the sidewalk ends and the road begins.

That's called natural selection.

Re:Maybe I am an asshole but

[syn3rg]

Instead of padding, perhaps iron poles extending across the crosswalk at ~5' height should be installed. These should prevent most of these accidents, as face-planting a metal pole usually snaps one into situational awareness.

...and cameras to capture the hilarity.

Football CTE effect

[Solandri]

Meanwhile, the city of London has tried putting pads on their lamp posts "to soften the blow for distracted walkers."

In response to American football players being injured, they developed better helmet technology to soften the blow. This resulted in football players hitting each other harder, which we now suspect has led to endemic CTE among football players.

The more effective solution would be to electrify the lamp posts so they give you a safe but unpleasant shock if you walk into them (since apparently the blow isn't enough to discourage people from not watching where they are going). OTOH, if you wish to accept that people are going to text while on the sidewalk but wish to avoid collisions, the better solution is a moving walkway.

Re:Football CTE effect

[Nkwe]

The more effective solution would be to electrify the lamp posts so they give you a safe but unpleasant shock if you walk into them (since apparently the blow isn't enough to discourage people from not watching where they are going).

Since the electronic device is the root of the problem, the voltage should be high enough to damage the device. This would eliminate the problem of repeat offender devices. It is not sufficient to simply electrocute the operator of the device, as some other operator could pick up the device and continue to cause problems.

Re:Football CTE effect

[infolation]

There are no padded lampposts in London. Or trials. This is an urban myth that started when British directory enquiries service 118-118 ran an advertisting campaign in 2008.

How can people still be foolish enough to include this in news articles without checking the facts?

Better idea.

[Gravis Zero]

Instead of a monetary penalty, just close their most active social media account each time they get caught. ;)

Re:I see these dumb motherfuckers all over Boston

[TechyImmigrant]

Sorry to break it to you, but pedestrians always have the right of way

No they don't.

Bah

[DontBeAMoran]

We should be celebrating the death of the low-I.Q. members of our societies, not protect them!

This Legislation Paid for by: Auto Insureres Union

[BrendaEM]

We make our laws like everyone is born with a SUV strapped to our asses.

Re:I see these dumb motherfuckers all over Boston

[DontBeAMoran]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

So, I guess I get to feel old today

[Cardcaptor_RLH85]

When I was a kid, before pre-teens had cell phones, I read books while walking home from school. I had a number of close calls with vehicles when crossing streets while reading Asimov or Clarke. I almost want to take a trip to Honolulu with a few paperbacks just to publicly mock the fact that this legislation doesn't actually fix the problem it tries to fix.

Sounds like a video game

[fahrbot-bot]

Smartphone Zombies

Drivers get points added for hitting pedestrians on phones, points subtracted for hitting those without.

Only one part of the problem

[chipschap]

I live in Honolulu and I walk all the time. I am careful about obeying crosswalk laws and I pay attention when crossing because my life depends on it.

Certainly I agree pedestrians shouldn't be texting, etc., while crossing, and Honolulu has a terrible problem with pedestrian fatalities (highest in the nation for senior citizen pedestrians).

But the city consistently fails to do anything about cars running lights. At any major intersection, when the 'walk' light comes on, I don't dare start to cross right away because there are always one or more cars racing through the intersection, running the red light. And the walk light stays on for exactly seven seconds at most intersections; it's illegal to start crossing once the white light goes off and the red countdown light starts.

The city considered red light cameras but rejected the idea. Of course, they bring in a host of other problems and abuses, but pedestrians won't be safe as long as drivers run lights and ignore crosswalks. Texting while crossing is just one part of the problem. But in a city that favors cars over every other mode of transportation, legislating against pedestrians will be what you see happen.

Re:a defining cultural shift of recent times

[easyTree]

People's attention spans have fallen to that of a gnat due to the constant need to check their social media updates.

This is deeply offensive. According to this well-respected source, gnats have the deliberate-continuity advantage at 3.4 seconds. So, take your comment back, bzzzzzzz!

Re:Ok, you're an asshole

[CanadianMacFan]

I find that in my suburbs along the major roads that there are a lot of people who don't expect there to be pedestrians using the crosswalks with the lights. At least a couple of times a year I'll nearly get hit by some person turning right as I'm going to go straight across. Sometimes the ones that see me in time to stop get upset because I interrupted their lives.

Re:More not fewer ways for these idots to get hurt

[CanadianMacFan]

And yet you've made it this far. You have the compassion and IQ of a hockey puck. I hope that if you are ever in need of help that the people around you are better than you are because you will be in serious trouble if they are anything like you.

Re:More not fewer ways for these idots to get hurt

[drinkypoo]

No it's expensive if there is socialized medicine. Otherwise it's just a little bit of body work and a good wash for the car and the street and things are good as new. The world in general is better off minus one moron.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the broken window fallacy as a human being. Kind of.

Re:Ok, you're an asshole

[mea2214]

Same here in Chicago. Nobody stops at stop signs and drivers demand pedestrians stop at a crosswalk so they don't have to. Police never give out tickets so people drive however the fuck they want. I see this thread has been hijacked by the reckless driving crowd too.

Re:Ok, you're an asshole

[CanadianMacFan]

It's depressing the number of people who are on here that think people should die just because they are doing something stupid. I wish I could believe that they are making a stupid remark but given the changes in the world the last five years there have some truly awful people crawling out from the stones they were living.