UBC researchers: Distracted pedestrians more at-risk on roads

UBC professor Tarek Sayed explains his study that used analyzed traffic camera video to quantify the risks pedestrians face when distracted by their phones while walking. (CTV News)

UBC researchers are using artificial intelligence to determine the dangers of busy roads for pedestrians.

The recently published study found pedestrians who are distracted – such as by texting or listening to music – are more likely to have a “close call” with a vehicle. 

“Distracted pedestrians often remained unaware of their surroundings, making fewer adjustments to their path or speed, which decreased their overall navigational efficiency,” reads the paper by professor Tarek Sayed, who is a Canada Research Chair in Transportation Safety and Advanced Mobility.

Researchers developed a computer program to analyze traffic camera video, looking specifically at those using their phones or listening to music and comparing them to undistracted pedestrians.

The severity of vehicle collisions and near misses increased by 45 per cent when a pedestrian was distracted, according to the study.

Sayed said the findings can be used to create safer infrastructure.

“We can provide more visible crosswalks, and we can identify areas where we have a high percentage or occurrence of these near-misses and maybe collisions, and we can put signs to alert pedestrians,” he said.

Safer infrastructure is something Lucy Maloney of Vision Zero is also advocating for.

She believes experts should be studying how drivers can operate more safely, instead of focusing on pedestrian behaviors.

“Pedestrians outside cars are brutally aware of how risky it is to cross the road, how driver inattention has far more serious consequences than pedestrian inattention,” said Maloney.