Crackdown on pedestrian cellphone use set to promote safety

Jiaxing, a city in East China's Zhejiang province, is going to strengthen checks and punishment on pedestrians who use their phones when crossing the road.

According to a recent local regulation stipulated and announced by the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress concerning citizens' civilized conduct in Jiaxing, those who gaze upon their cellphones while crossing road intersections will be levied a fine between 5-50 yuan starting Jan 1.

Cellphones are increasingly becoming an indispensable tool in China, with pedestrians, and even drivers, often seen engrossed in online conversations or video content without paying attention to their surroundings.

The number of deaths on the world's roads remains high with an estimated 1.35 million people killed each year, according to the 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety from the World Health Organization.

"Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years and cause considerable economic losses to individuals, their families, and to nations as a whole," the report said.

A survey conducted by China Youth Daily in January 2017 showed that 72.2 percent of respondents had the experience of looking at their phones while crossing roads in China, which indicates that besides distracted driving, distracted walking is also a growing concern for road safety.

Wenzhou, another city in Zhejiang province, has implemented a regulation against such conducts to start Jan 1. Pedestrians will be warned or fined 10 yuan ($1.41) when caught watching their phones when crossing roads.

The police authority in Jiaxing said they will step up patrols and strengthen monitoring on roads with tougher enforcement and sterner punishment to rein in the increase of traffic accidents caused by smartphone usage.

"When people realize what they do is improper, their habits will be more civilized," said a netizen from Sina Weibo.

A local official in Jiaxing, who prefer to remain anonymous, said the original intention of such regulations was to help citizens develop good consciousness and habits, and to consolidate the successful experience in better regulating citizens' conduct in line with laws and regulations.

Liu Jinzhen, director of the legal division of Jiaxing's traffic police authority, said he thought the first thing to do is to improve people's awareness, and propel more to abandon such dangerous and unlawful habits in their daily lives.

There have been regulations that require car drivers to give way to pedestrians in many cities, and the behaviors of pedestrians should also be supervised, according to Liu.

"In the early days, violators will be warned or educated. As long as they don't affect the traffic order, we will not punish them too hard," the director said.

Some people expressed concerns about the implementation of the regulation regarding the high cost of human resources and possible slack enforcement.

Liu said traffic police will assume multiple responsibilities at the same time, and noticing pedestrian behavior is just one of them. "We usually have police staff stand at inter-sections of main roads to manage the traffic and implementing the new regulation will be a main task for them," the police officer noted.

"We will take measures in line with local conditions," said Ma Jun, director of the publicity division of Jiaxing's traffic police authority.

Ma Lili, an analyst from the Center for Public Opinions and Big Data Analysis, the website of People's Daily, pointed out legal enforcement authorities should rule out a more specified and detailed mechanism in terms of actual implementation of such regulations.

"In addition to the traffic management authorities, the road monitoring system should be better mobilized to enforce the regulation efficiently," she suggested.

Qin Jirong and Ye Shuning contributed to this story.