Looking at your phone while walking will be ILLEGAL under new laws being considered in Japan
- Councillors in city of Yamato, central Japan, will vote on proposed ban in June
- Researchers observed 6,000 people walking near two of the city’s stations
- They reportedly found 12 per cent of them were looking at their phones
- Councillors claim an increase in injuries among people looking at phones
Many of us often look at our smartphones while walking to help find our way – or even to pass the time.
But doing so could soon be illegal in the city of Yamato, in Kanagawa Prefecture, central Japan.
City councillors are set to vote on a proposal to ban the activity after research reportedly showed that too many people were looking at their phones while walking.
Walking while looking at your phone will be illegal under new laws being considered in the city of Yamato, in central Japan (file photo)
According to Sora News 24, researchers observed 6,000 people walk past two train stations in Yamato and found that 12 per cent of them were looking at their phones.
It has prompted some politicians in the city to propose banning the activity.
They allegedly claim there has been an increase in injuries among people walking while distracted by their phones.
If the June vote is passed, Yamato will become the first city in Japan to ban walking while looking at a phone.
The new law would define offending behaviour as ‘walking while gazing at the screen of a smartphone or other device.’
Yamato city councillors are set to vote on a proposal to ban the activity after research reportedly showed that too many people were looking at their phones wile walking. Pictured: The city of Yamato
Instead, citizens are being urged to ‘use your smartphone while standing still in a place where you won’t be a hindrance to others passing by.’
If the new law is approved, it will come into effect on July 1.
It comes after scientists warned that texting and scrolling on touchscreens has sent pedestrian injuries soaring by 800 per cent, scientists have warned.
A review of evidence showed ‘distraction injuries’ are now a significant problem and are causing growing numbers of accidents.
Being engrossed in texting and social media has led to people walking into lampposts, stepping out into traffic and tripping over.
Researchers reportedly observed 6,000 people walk past two train stations in Yamato – including the city’s main station (pictured) and found that 12 per cent of them were looking at their phones
If the June vote is passed, Yamato will become the first city in Japan to ban walking while looking at a phone (file photo)
The scientists behind the study, from the University of Calgary in Canada, said related injuries are likely to get worse.
They already account for around one in every 25 road safety incidents, the team wrote in the journal BMJ Injury Prevention.
Lead author Dr Sarah Simmons and colleagues said: ‘Given the ubiquity of smartphones, social media, apps, digital video and streaming music, which has infiltrated most aspects of daily life, distracted walking and street crossing will be a road safety issue for the foreseeable future.
The team reviewed relevant studies on ‘pedestrian distraction’. One found 1,506 visits to emergency departments in the US in 2010 were caused by mobile phone use in public places.
Since 2004, data showed injuries, such as walking into a pole and tripping and falling, increased 800 per cent from 0.4 per cent to 3.7 per cent of pedestrian injuries. Males under the 30 were the largest victims.