Municipalities across Canada are mulling bylaws to counter “distracted walking,” when pedestrians have their heads down and eyes glued to their phones. City councillors say Ottawa isn’t on that list. Cody MacKay, Centretown NewsSick of seeing children, teens and grown-ups in business suits crossing the street with their eyes glued to their phones and ignoring traffic? You aren’t alone. Two-thirds of Canadians would support a law to regulate texting by pedestrians on our streets, according to a new poll.
But it is not going to happen. Not here in Ottawa, anyway, according to councillors, experts and many of those people walking along clinging to their phones.
According to the survey, which was conducted by market research firm Insights West, 66 per cent of Canadians support regulations to ban distracted walking in their municipality.
Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs for Insights West, said 64 per cent of people in Ontario supported this idea. He said municipal governments should consider the public’s opinion on this issue.
“If the municipalities are able to establish some sort of bylaw, similar to the bylaw that we have for littering, it could be easier to do and it could set an example,” said Canseco.
Some Canadian municipalities are already contemplating distracted walking legislation.
In July, Toronto City Council passed a motion calling for Ontario to amend the Highway Traffic Act to ban residents from using cellphones “while on any travelled portion of a roadway.” Two city councillors in Vancouver have also voiced support for a ban.
“While the ministry is not considering any additional changes to pedestrian regulations under the Highway Traffic Act, municipalities have powers to establish bylaws in the best interest of their communities,” said Bob Nichols, senior media liaison officer at the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.
However, councillors in Ottawa say implementing such legislation is simply unrealistic.
“Such a ban would be impossible to enforce and an absolute waste of resources,” said Rideau-Goulbourn Coun. Scott Moffatt. “We can’t even control people who text and drive and yet we are going to go after people who text and walk?”
Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney said designing safe and accessible streets should be the priority.
“We must begin by designing our streets to allow for human error,” she said.
According to Canseco, most Canadians support distracted driving legislation. However, a large number of motorists, accustomed to using their cellphones while driving for more than two decades, refused to follow anti-texting laws when they were created. Canseco said something similar might happen with distracted walking.
“Unfortunately, at the time when the legislation started to happen, it was because of tragedies. It wasn’t because it made sense,” he said.
However, Christina Ganotakis, who regularly walks to her job at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in the downtown core, said implementing the ban would not be the best use of taxpayers’ money.
“Awareness campaigns are a better way,” said Ganotakis. “I think that’s where tax dollars can go, rather than having an increased police presence on the street surveilling you as you walk.”
Creating more laws for infractions that already exist, such as jaywalking, only increases costs for taxpayers and does not usually have the desired effect, said one expert.
“Blaming people with cell phones is a scapegoat response to the understandable frustrations between pedestrians and drivers who have to navigate the LRT construction, Ottawa 2017 construction projects and sink holes,” said Deborah Landry, a criminology and social sciences professor at the University of Ottawa.
She argued that drafting new bylaws would not be the most effective solution to the complex array of transportation conflicts.
“Opening up our cities and encouraging people to leave their cars at home to walk our city would be a great campaign to lessen negative car-versus-pedestrian interactions,” she said.