People of Fredericton weigh in on distracted walking - Action News
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People of Fredericton weigh in on distracted walking

A new poll suggests 66 per cent of Canadians would support regulations to ban distracted walking.

Poll says 66 per cent of Canadians see need for some sort of rule against distracted walking

Should we outlaw distracted walking?

8 years ago
Duration 0:54
A new poll suggests 66 per cent of Canadians would support regulations to ban distracted walking. What does Fredericton think?

A new poll suggests 66 per cent of Canadians would support regulations to ban distracted walking, and it has its supporters in Fredericton as well.

The poll was conducted by the market research company Insights West. It featuredresponses from 1,013 Canadians from across the country.

City councillors in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary have either expressed interest orput forward motions to look at penaltiesfor distracted walkers.

Could you enforce it?

A number of people in Fredericton Thursday afternoonsummoned up close calls from their own experience.

"I almost ran someone over because she wasn't looking where she was going crossing the street," said Carol.
Carol said she would support some sort of rule against distracted walking. (CBC)

Carol wasn't the only one who could quickly think of a situation where they almost ran into, or were run into by someone who had their eyes trained on their phone.

"I think that would be a great idea," said Alana Scott. "Especially downtown, it's really bad. Like they don't even look when they're going across the crosswalk, they're just on their phones."

Several people noted malls, crosswalks and the city's universities as hotspots for waywardwalkers.

"I think it's a concern, I know it's a big concern on campus. Everybody's walking around, they're not looking where they're going or what's coming at them," said Alaina Sherwood.

Even among supporters the question of enforcement came up.

"Good luck policing that," said one woman.