First studies from the USA indicate that distraction may also become a major health problem for pedestrians. To examine the scope of this problem for young people, an observational study was conducted in Braunschweig, Germany, looking at street crossing behaviours of students in the vicinity of four major high schools (n = 1386, 609 male, 737 children 10–14 years of age, and 649 adolescents 15–19 years). The observer recorded basic characteristics of the pedestrians (age and gender) as well as their activities before and while crossing the street (including mobile phone use). Crossing behaviour was rated with regard to safety while crossing (e.g. checking the road for cars before crossing). About 10.5% of the students used their mobile phones (looking at it and/or typing) while crossing the street. Being alone increased this to 15.3%. Talking to others lead to a reduction to 7.2%. Neither age nor gender nor the type of crossing infrastructure influenced this frequency significantly. Using the mobile phone substantially reduced safety‐related behaviours before crossing the street. Although no risky situation was directly observed, the results indicate a potential safety decrement due to mobile phone use for young pedestrians while crossing the road.


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    Young people use their smartphone all the time – even when crossing the street?

    Vollrath, Mark / Huemer, Anja Katharina / Nicolai, Christin | IET | 2019

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