Researchers say distraction is on the rise for pedestrians with smartphones

A New Study Could Help Develop Safer Roads And Autonomous Cars

A New Study From The University Of British Columbia Shows That The Use Of Smartphones Can Be As Dangerous For Them pedestrians only for drivers. .

Engineers at the University of British Columbia badyzed the movements and walking habits of pedestrians using smart phones to determine how mobile phone use affects the nobody walking. The results could eventually be used in the future to develop safer roads and autonomous vehicles. The study was recently published in the Transport Research Register .

Researchers used automated video badysis to examine the behavior and movements of pedestrians at a four-lane intersection located in Kamloops, British Columbia. Three cameras were mounted at the intersection for the purpose of the two-day study to allow researchers to capture and badyze the movements of 357 pedestrians

Rushdi Alsaleh, Ph.D., is a PhD Candidate in Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia

"We discovered that over a third of pedestrians were distracted by cell phones, texting and listening to them. Distracted pedestrians struggled to maintain their speed and pace and took longer to cross the road, increasing the risk of conflict with vehicles.

The study also revealed that distracted pedestrian movements differed according to the activities they performed on their smart phone. According to the article, pedestrians who were texting or reading took shorter measurements, but did not slow down their average step frequency. Pedestrians who were talking on their smartphones were taking slow steps, but were not changing the length of their stride.

In addition, researchers determined that pedestrians distracted by texting or reading had a higher rate of movement and disruption.

The co-author of the study, Mohamed Zaki, a research badociate at UBC's Civil Engineering Department, explained that pedestrian movements distracted by a smartphone differed from those of pedestrians without visible smartphones. "When it came to interactions with vehicles, distracted pedestrians acted differently than those who were not distracted. To avoid oncoming vehicles, they reduced their speed by adjusting their step frequency, while non-distracted pedestrians adjusted their step frequency and the length of their steps.

According to the researchers, the results must be taken into account the development and safety of autonomous cars, and autonomous vehicles that are able to recognize distracted pedestrian walking patterns and anticipate their behavior could avoid accident by taking avoidance measures, note the article.