People should be more cautious about what’s happening around them when walking on the street.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Pamela Lampitt, an Assemblywoman from New Jersey, is actively trying to ban the habit of using our phones even when we walk from one point to another. If her proposal is voted, walking while texting could be punishable by law.
The bill proposed by the Democrats suggests a $250 fine or 15 days in prison. The same punishment is applied to jaywalkers, so it does make sense. All of the money that would be raised from the aforementioned fines will go to safety education programs.
If Lampitt’s law is voted, then walking while texting could be punishable by law. The Democrat is not trying to push the bill because he wants people to lift their gaze from their mobile screens and take in the beauty of New Jersey, she is doing so in the hope that the law will save a considerable amount of lives.
According to the statistics, fatalities among pedestrians have increased by fifteen percent. In 2013, 4,735 people died while walking on the street or crossing it without paying attention to their environment.
Furthermore, roughly two million individuals were injured while using their cellphones while walking on the street.
A study discovered that people who use electronic devices while walking have more chances of not looking both ways before attempting to cross a street or paying attention to the colors displayed by the streetlight.
According to another survey realized on a sample of 1,000 children and adolescents aged 13 up to 18, almost half admitted that they were impacted or almost impacted by vehicles while paying more attention to the music they were listening to than to the street they were walking on.
Furthermore, approximately 20 percent were nearly involved in an accident while they were talking on their phone and 18 percent experienced a close call while texting.
When asked about the bill she is trying to get approved, Lampitt declared that a distracted pedestrian is as dangerous as a distracted driver. They both represent potential dangers to themselves and the people surrounding them.
If a person that is texting decides to cross the street without making sure that the situation is safe, then that individual is as dangerous for a driver as a jaywalker. That is why the Democrat suggested the fines to be equal to those applied to jaywalkers.
Walking while texting could be punishable by law and the bill could save thousands of lives annually.
Image source: Wikimedia
