Winter Walking and Cycling

[jamincan]

While it's true that any road user can be distracted and that it's a problem whether you're walking or driving, it's important to consider what purpose the issue serves in the overall discussion about road safety. Distracted driving is a very real problem. We have statistics and numbers that show that it considerably increases the risk to all road users, more so than even drunk driving. We don't have evidence showing that distracted walking or cycling presents nearly the same public health risk and yet every time distracted driving is discussed it is inevitable that someone brings up distracted walking and shifts the conversation away from a far more important issue with far greater consequences.

It's not that people think that pedestrians should be distracted and that there's nothing wrong with burying your nose in your phone while navigating your environment. It's that we shouldn't be letting that particular issue take our attention from distracted driving.