Using a smartphone or other kind of cell phone while cycling or driving is a perilous act that could lead to a serious accident.
Last December, a female university student who was using a smartphone while riding a battery-assisted bicycle collided with a female pedestrian in Kawasaki. The pedestrian died from a cerebral contusion and other causes.
The Kawasaki branch of the Yokohama District Court last month handed down a judgment of guilty with a suspended sentence to the university student, who was indicted without arrest on charges of manslaughter by gross negligence. Between the incident and the verdict, the female student left her university of her own accord.
She was riding the bicycle while listening to music with an earphone in one ear, and holding a drink in her right hand and a smartphone in her left. After receiving and sending messages, she was reportedly distracted by the act of putting the smartphone into her pocket, and did not notice the pedestrian until it was too late.
It is obvious that in addition to her failure to keep her eyes on the road ahead, she was also not able to hit the brakes on the bike immediately. The ruling harshly criticized her, saying "it was a self-centered attitude toward riding devoid of the awareness that the act of riding a bicycle can kill or injure a person." It was a warning against using cell phones while cycling.
At the trial, the defendant admitted that she had used her smartphone while riding a bicycle previously as well. She was too ignorant of the possible dangers of smartphone use while cycling, to say the least.
Last year alone, there were 45 accidents in which people who were using a cell phone while riding on a bicycle either killed or injured a pedestrian. In June this year, a university student who was riding an all-terrain bike while looking at a smartphone fatally struck a male pedestrian in Ibaraki Prefecture. Papers pertaining to his criminal case were sent to the public prosecutors office.
Teach safety at schools
In accidents involving a bicycle rider and a pedestrian, there are many cases in which the offender turns out to be a youth. In classrooms at universities, high schools and the like, where there are a number of students who bicycle to school, efforts should be made to teach them the dangers of using smartphones while riding a bicycle.
Nor is there any end to traffic accidents caused by vehicle drivers or motorcyclists who were using smartphones or other devices while driving. There were as many as 1,885 such accidents last year, up 50 percent from 10 years before. The number of people caught using smartphones while driving has exceeded 900,000 annually.
In a public opinion survey taken last year by the Cabinet Office, many pollees called for making punishments heavier or for police to implement a thorough crackdown as measures against the use of smartphones while driving. If the situation does not improve with awareness activities, reinforcing penalties under the Road Traffic Law should also be discussed.
Many people use their smartphones to enjoy playing games and exchanging information via social media sites. It is because of this tendency that the number of accidents that occur when people are gazing intently at the display screen are increasing more than accidents that occur when people are speaking on a cell phone.
People should also refrain from using smartphones while walking, as such acts can lead to bumping into others or tripping over something and falling down. There has been not a few of these accidents in which a person, absorbed in using a smartphone, fell off a platform at a station. The danger of using smartphones while involved in some other action should be recognized once again.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 24, 2018)
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
