Politics

Road signs could be placed on pavements to stop ‘zombie’ pedestrians on phones causing accidents


SPECIAL road signs and lights could be placed on the pavement to guide “zombie” pedestrians glued to their mobile phones.

Ministers are drawing up plans to protect addicts following a surge in accidents involving distracted youngsters wandering into the road.

 There has been a surge in accidents resulting from distracted pedestrians walking into the road

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There has been a surge in accidents resulting from distracted pedestrians walking into the roadCredit: Alamy

Options include painted warning sings on the ground or embedding strips of red lights on kerbs to catch people’s eyes as they get close to the kerb.

The action follows a surge in the number of kids being killed or seriously injured as they cross the road while staring at their phones.

It is among more than 70 different measures being considered to help reduce deaths and injuries on British roads.

Another under consideration is to create special “text walking lanes” with painted white arrows and lines to guide pedestrians safely.

Ministers will also launch more dedicated lessons on smartphone distraction as part of their road safety campaign “Think!”

‘TRAGIC ACCIDENTS’

Four at-risk groups are being targeted – young and older drivers, rural road users and motorcyclists – who are involved in a high number of accidents.

Although casualties have fallen by 39 per cent since 2007, the figure has been largely stable since 2011 and the government is now focusing on new dangers.

Road safety minister Michael Ellis said: “The UK has some of the safest roads in the world but too many families are being ripped apart by tragic accidents.

“Although we have seen a substantial fall in the number of deaths on our roads over ten years, we must do more.

“Our action plan will kick off a very large portion of work which I hope will make a real difference and reduce the number of road fatalities and injuries.”

Department for Transport figures show there were 2,658 accidents in 2017 involving pedestrians who were “reckless or in a hurry”, including people using phones.

Of those, 41 were fatal and 765 resulted in serious injuries to the pedestrian.

 Road safety minister Michael Ellis hopes the measures will reduce the number of road fatalities

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Road safety minister Michael Ellis hopes the measures will reduce the number of road fatalities
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