Philadelphia Wants Pedestrians To Stop Texting, Watch Where They're Going, And Stay Safe
By John McDevitt
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new pedestrian safety campaign has been launched by PennDOT and City of Philadelphia to warn that texting could be hazardous to your health.
The program addresses the growing problem of pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
A bus shelter at Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, adjacent to Temple University, is one of 50 in the city that are now sporting an advertisement that says, "It's Road Safety, Not Rocket Science."
The billboard has an illustration of a woman wearing headphones and looking down while walking in a crosswalk. It also shows a man driving a car, looking down at his smartphone. He has the green light, but neither see each other.
Ema Yamamoto, project manager for the city's pedestrian safety and education enforcement program (at lectern below), says a car hits a pedestrian in Philadelphia once every five hours on average.
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"In the City of Philadelphia, in 2013, we saw over 1,800 pedestrians hit by drivers," Yamamoto notes, "and 37 of those pedestrians died."
There will also be a social media effort targeting 18- to 35-year-olds.
