A new initiative has been launched to address the problem of distraction among young pedestrians who use mobiles phones while crossing the road.
‘Look don’t ‘Like’, produced by Room 9 Media, comprises a suite of resources including school gate banners, posters and pop up exhibition stands.
Road safety teams who buy into the campaign will also be provided with the graphics in a digital format and two presentations, one aimed at secondary school students and another for sixth forms and colleges.
Room 9 Media points to a recent confused.com survey in which 27% of motorists who participated said they have nearly hit a pedestrian who was distracted by their mobile phone; and 8% said they have actually knocked into a pedestrian distracted by their phone.
Government figures show that pedestrian fatalities in Great Britain increased by 12% – from 398 in 2013 to 446 in 2014 – accounting for three quarters of the year-on-year increase in fatalities in 2014.
John Billington, Room 9 Media, said: “It’s a widespread problem and we’re approaching it with a punchy headline which can easily be transferred to different media and used effectively across a number of platforms.
“We’re looking to push the hashtag #lookdontlike on social media.”
For more information about the campaign contact John Billington at Room 9 Media.
Yes it is Pat – or should I say…
SYLWI NID ‘HOFFI’
CADWA DY LYGAID AR Y FFORDD – NID AR DY FFÔN
John Billington
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It has taken me quite a while to register the meaning of the “Look don’t ‘Like'” message. Just as well that the campaign is not aimed at my generation! Is it available bilingually for Wales?
Pat, Wales
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Interesting couple of points – we’re also worried about the drivers as well as the pedestrians! In this particular campaign we’re targeting the pedestrians.
In regard to Charles’s point, according to the Confused.com research we quoted one in 12 motorists (8%) admit that they have actually knocked into a pedestrian who was distracted by their mobile phone, as a result of them not focusing on the road.
The recent AA report stated “More than half of AA Insurance claims involving a collision with a pedestrian include causes such as:
• ‘Person on phone stepped out, wasn’t looking’
• ‘Pedestrian just walked out’
• ‘She looked the wrong way’
• ‘He walked into the side of the car’
Confused.com also addressed the issue of underreporting:
“This worrying admission contrasts with the number of pedestrian casualties recorded by Police Forces, which according to the Office for National Statistics*, may be because cyclists and pedestrians are both road user groups who are more likely to be underreported in the road accident data collected by the police.
“This means the number of injuries could be much higher than estimated because not all injuries are severe enough to warrant hospital admission and not everyone will admit to using a mobile when the accident occurred.
“Despite the growing use of mobile phones in every part of our lives, not all Police Forces do in fact record details of road traffic accidents involving distracted pedestrians**. This is highlighted by new data obtained by Confused.com under a Freedom of Information request to 45 police constabularies across the UK.”
I think we’d all agree it’s certainly a growing problem that we’ve got to address.
John Billington Room 9 Media
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Here again we have road casualty figures thrown in without context. Almost all of the 12% pedestrian fatality increase in 2013-14 was in the 60+ age group – so to include this data stripped of its full context is misleading. What is the significance of that to this report about a road safety initiative which targets young pedestrians? What we need to know is how many young pedestrian fatalities are the result of them being distracted by their phone whilst crossing the road. Only then can we form an opinion as to the potential value of this measure.
Charles, England
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I’m more worried about the 8% of motorists mentioned in para 4, who it seems, did not ‘keep their eyes on the road’, as the banner urges.
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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