Transcript
Page 1: Exploring How Mobile Technologies Impact Pedestrian Safety

Exploring How Mobile TechnologiesImpact Pedestrian Safety

Research team:Nikki ZeichnerPhoenix PerryMiranda Sita

Laura BarberaTim Nering

by the Integrated Digital Media program at the Polytechnic School of Engineeringof New York University

April 2014NYC Media Lab Research Brief

Prepared for AT&T

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This paper was prepared for AT&T as part of a NYC Media Lab Open Seed Project with NYU

Polytechnic School of Engineering’s Integrated Digital Media Program.

Launched by a consortium including the New York City Economic Development Corporation, NYU

and Columbia University, NYC Media Lab is a public-private partnership that connects companies

with university R&D, faculty and students. AT&T is a charter corporate member of NYC Media Lab.

For more information, visit http://nycmedialab.org.

Cover photo by Jeremy Cox of Flickr (jeremywcox).

For more information, visit http://nycmedialab.org.

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Table of contents

Summary

The Intersection of Mobile Device Use and Pedestrian Safety

What Sets New York City Apart

New York City’s Response

Research on Mobile Device Use by Distracted Pedestrians

Opportunities to Improve Traffic Safety with Mobile Technologies

Conclusion

References

1

2

4

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This paper provides software

and mobile device developers

with an overview of recent

applications of mobile

technologies addressing

traffic safety.

This paper provides software and mobile device

developers with an overview of recent applications of

mobile technologies addressing traffic safety. It also

spotlights potential solutions mobile technologies can

contribute to improving safety conditions on New York

City streets.

Summary

Consumer adoption of mobile devices has

skyrocketed, changing the way people behave in many

environments, including on city streets. Much of the

emphasis of governments, advocacy organizations,

researchers and technologists concerned with the

safety implications of mobile device use in traffic has

rightly focused on the behavior of drivers, and, in

particular, the dangers of texting while driving.

Research examining texting while driving is bountiful

and the findings unequivocally demonstrate hazards.

More recently, there is also a growing body of research

and evidence that supports the claim that pedestrians

may be increasing traffic safety risks by walking in

traffic while focused on their smart phone.

The research team approached smart phone use and

traffic safety from a technological perspective: How might

mobile technologies make pedestrians in urban areas

safer, especially to mitigate smart phone distraction and

to increase pedestrians’ environmental connectedness

and what opportunities exist for technological solutions

to complement the efforts of governments, advocacy

organizations and businesses to reduce injuries and

deaths.

This paper outlines the impact of vehicle-pedestrian

crashes, provides a synopsis of the city’s approach to

traffic safety, examines research on hazards of mobile

device use by distracted pedestrians, and reviews

technologies leveraging smart phones and wireless

networks that aim to empower pedestrians and reduce

driver distraction.

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The Intersection of Mobile Device Use and Pedestrian Safety

The number of mobile phones in the U.S. has

increased from 340,000 in 1985 to 302.9 million in

2010.1 Rapidly increasing mobile phone use has

been linked with dangerous, distracted driving.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and

Prevention, nine people are killed and more than 1,060

are injured every day in the U.S. due to distracted

driving.2 The CDC defines three types of distraction

– visual, manual, and cognitive. It recognizes

that texting while driving is “especially dangerous

because it combines all three types of distraction.”3

While fatalities attributed to texting while driving

is imprecise, the category “driver inattention” was

“Driver inattention” was cited

by NYPD as the cause of

about a third of all crashes,

beating the next category by

more than 2 to 1.

< 16

16 - 20

21 - 25

26 - 30

31 - 35

36 - 40

41 - 45

46 - 50

51 - 55

56 - 60

61 - 65

> 65PedestriansDrivers

160511

1429985

12541003

556305

453314

359342

310562

404452

358137

31091

15287

271493

National Estimates of Cases

Age

Gro

up

Figure 1: CPSC National Estimates (total from 2004-2010) of injuries related to cellphone use by pedestrians (n=5482) and drivers (n=5879).5

cited by the New York City Police Department as the

cause of about a third of all crashes, beating the next

category by more than 2 to 1.4

2

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Pedestrian casualties from car crashes in NYC

Table 1: Car/Pedestrian Crashes, 2006-20138

YEAR CRASHES INJURIES DEATHS

2006 10,958 10,744 156

2007 11,035 10,859 135

2008 10,973 10,722 151

2009 10,715 10,433 158

2010 11,266 11,084 149

2011 10,794 10,660 143

2012 10,925 10,809 135

2013 14,8457 Not released

In 2011, Transportation Alternatives and the Drum

Major Institute for Public Policy co-authored a report,

“Walking in Traffic Violence: Pervasiveness of Motor

Vehicle Crashes with Pedestrians in New York City,”

to draw attention to the overall dangers faced by

pedestrians.6 The report argued that, in New York

City, pedestrian injuries and fatalities due to crashes

with cars remain high compared to rates in similar,

densely populated cities. “New Yorkers are twice as

likely to be killed in a car crash as in Berlin, Tokyo,

or Paris.”7 The New York State Department of Motor

Vehicles reports little change in recent years in the

rates of pedestrian injuries and deaths in New York

City resulting from crashes with cars, with a significant

increase in the number of crashes in 2013 (Table 1).

To reduce injuries from distracted driving, states

and the federal government have passed legislation

banning phone use while driving.10 In 2010, the Federal

Motor Carrier Safety Administration banned commercial

vehicle drivers from texting while driving.11 And, in

2009 AT&T launched the “It Can Wait” campaign to

spread awareness about the dangers of mobile device

use while driving and to encourage teen drivers to

sign the “It Can Wait” pledge. Sprint, T-Mobile and

Verizon joined AT&T’s effort, which has yielded over 4

million pledges and a widespread education campaign

throughout high schools across the United States.

Working together, these companies have deployed

social media, multimedia content production and mobile

apps to maximize the campaign’s reach.12

3

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What Sets New York City Apart

New York City is the only U.S. city where over half of

all households do not own a car.13 With the exception

of Portland, Oregon, pedestrians in New York City are

safer here than in any other major city in the United

States.14 Despite the city’s prominent pedestrian

culture and history of strategic transportation planning

designed to empower pedestrians and ensure their

safety, pedestrian safety remains a critical issue. In

2012, New York City experienced 10,925 crashes

between pedestrians and cars.15

Although the New York City Department of

Transportation reported a reduction in traffic fatalities

of 35% from 2001 to 2012, a recent study of vehicle-

pedestrian crashes between 2007 and 2010 by

researchers at Hunter College suggests that injuries

of this kind in New York City are, in fact, grossly

underreported, and that pedestrians face more danger

than the numbers may indicate.16

Researchers have begun to investigate the direct

relationship between mobile device use and pedestrian

injuries in New York City. In one study, researchers found

that of the 1,400 pedestrian and cyclist injuries treated at

New York’s Bellevue Hospital Center between 2008 and

2011, “[a]bout 8 percent of both pedestrians and cyclists

said they were injured while using an electronic device,

including a cellphone or music player.

For victims ages 7 to 17, the numbers climbed to more

than 10 percent of pedestrians and nearly 30 percent of

cyclists.”17 According to American College of Surgeons,

“nearly one in five patients ages 13 to 17 were sending

text messages, listening to music, or otherwise distracted

by a mobile device at the time of their accident.”18

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New York City’s Response

The relatively consistent number of pedestrian injuries

and fatalities in New York City between 2006 and

2012 comes despite the Bloomberg administration’s

numerous pedestrian-friendly projects, programs, and

research around traffic and pedestrian safety in the

City during this time. 19

In August 2010, Mayor Bloomberg, along with then

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and then

DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, issued a

comprehensive study of street safety in New York,

based on data gathered pursuant to the amendment

of Local Law 11 in April 2008.20 This report examined

7,000 vehicle-pedestrian crash records and concluded

that “…speeding, running red lights and failure to

yield” were main causes of serious pedestrian crashes

with vehicles in New York City.21

Based on these findings, the DOT undertook

numerous steps to calm traffic in neighborhoods

in midtown Manhattan. Left-turn visibility was

improved, countdown signals were installed at

pedestrian crossings, and streets and intersections

were comprehensively re-engineered with the goal of

improving pedestrian safety. The city at this time also

launched an anti-speeding campaign to raise safety

awareness among motorists and restricted traffic in

some residential neighborhoods to a 20 mile-per-hour

speed limit.

Again, in September 2012, in response to growing

awareness of pedestrian distraction, the New York City

Department of Transportation launched the LOOK!

Safety Campaign. Through outdoor advertising and

messages on crosswalks, this campaign aimed to

influence pedestrian behavior by providing visual cues

at intersections.

The campaign was modeled after a similar campaign

in London that was designed to alert tourists to traffic

hazards.23 The London campaign, like New York City’s,

deployed simple, clear messaging to mitigate risk-taking

behavior on the part of pedestrians when in proximity

to vehicular traffic. Contextual research around the

London campaign focused on a series of key findings

around “risk-taking” behavior. In its research, Transport

for London, distinguished between behaviors based on

intent and perception of risk. They found that “intentional

risk-taking as a pedestrian is… more likely if people

LOOK! Campaign Message, 2012.22

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Crossingbetweenstationary

traffic

Takinga photo

Ignoring barriers Crossing

on red

Crossingbetweenmoving traffic

Crossinghalfway

First stepfree

Talkingwith friends

Avoidingobstructions

Herding

Figure 2: Intentionality and Perception of Risk. Transport for London Report.25

do not believe that there is a high likelihood of any

undesirable consequences happening. The end result is

that they perceive their behavior as being relatively low

risk.”24

These intentional, high-risk actions are highly influenced

by social cues, e.g. tourist areas where jaywalking

behavior is highly present, or safety barriers are routinely

ignored.

6

Low perceived risk High perceived risk

Intentional

Unintentional

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Mayor Bill de Blasio took

office and reaffirmed

his intention to make

pedestrian safety

a “central focus” of

his newly-elected

administration and quickly

produced a “Vision Zero”

Action Plan that outlined a

series of policy initiatives

directly aimed at improving

pedestrian safety on New

York City streets.

LOOK! complements other DOT campaigns on road

safety that have been launched since 2006 (“Heads

Up”, “That’s Why It’s 30”, “You The Man”).26 These

campaigns are intended to work in tandem with

engineering-oriented approaches recommended by the

2010 DOT action plan, including approaches such as:

As a candidate for office in 2013, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed

onto the “Vision Zero” traffic safety project to reduce traffic

fatalities by 100%.28 Weeks after he took office, and prompted

by widely publicized pedestrian fatalities in early 2014, the

Mayor reaffirmed his intention to make pedestrian safety

a “central focus” of his newly-elected administration29 and

quickly produced a “Vision Zero” Action Plan that outlined

a series of policy initiatives directly aimed at improving

pedestrian safety on New York City streets.30

The “Vision Zero” proposals supplement the 2010 New York

City DOT plan with additional law enforcement initiatives,

legislative measures, engineering proposals, and city

government response protocols, as well as a new series of

outreach, education, and engagement initiatives to improve

pedestrian safety. The proposal calls for a permanent task

force in the Mayor’s Office of Operations to synchronize and

promote these initiatives. The “Vision Zero” plan promotes

a multi-agency, synergistic effort to combat pedestrian

injury and fatality through a wide variety of comprehensive

mitigation strategies.

• Crossing countdown signals;

• Barriers at high-risk intersections;

• Road engineering for maximum bilateral visibility;

• Multi-modal solutions (e.g., auditory feedback as a

crossing indicator).27

7

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As vehicle-pedestrian crashes are overwhelmingly

attributed to driver-caused hazards such as speeding,

intoxication and distraction,31 policymakers, traffic

safety advocates, and mobile carriers have rightly

focused on mobile phone use and texting as a lethal

source of distraction for drivers. Yet, pedestrian smart

phone distraction has recently attracted attention and

led researchers to explore the relationship between

pedestrian mobile device use and injury. Some recent

research includes:

Research on Mobile Device Use by Distracted Pedestrians

proposed New York law that would have made it a crime to

“enter and cross a crosswalk while engaging in the use of an

electronic device.”

• A 2009 study in the Journal of the American Academy

of Pediatrics examined the influence of talking on a cell

phone for pedestrian injury risk in youths, and found that

participants aged 10-11 were less attentive to traffic, did not

leave a safe amount of time to cross, and experienced more

collisions and close calls when using a cell phone than test

subjects who did not.33

• A 2011 study by researchers in the Department of

Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham

considered how talking on the phone, texting and listening

to music impact crossing the street, using college students

as test subjects.34 This study found in particular that “texting,

which involves not only communication interchanges but

also reading and typing, may be more cognitively distracting

and demanding than talking.” It also found that all of these

behaviors distract from the crossing environment and lead

to higher risk of injury.

• A 2007 study from researchers including Jack

Nasar, then of Brooklyn Polytechnic, looked at

mobile phones, distracted attention and pedestrian

safety. They found that “mobile phone users crossed

unsafely into oncoming traffic significantly more”

than other observed groups. The study found that

“For pedestrians as with drivers, cognitive distraction

from mobile phone use reduces situation awareness,

increases unsafe behavior, putting pedestrians

at greater risk for accidents.”32 This study cites a

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• A similar 2012 study examined the ways in which

gait velocity and trajectory changed for walkers when

interacting with the screen on a mobile device.35 This

small-scale experiment measured the movement of

33 university students as students texted on smart

devices while moving through an obstacle course.

The participants who texted while walking moved

33 percent slower and deviated from their intended

course 61 percent more often than those who did not

use their phones.36

They sampled injury reports from 100 national hospitals and

produced estimates of pedestrian mobile phone use-related

injuries reported at 3,800 hospitals throughout the U.S.38 They

found that the number of pedestrian injuries due to pedestrian

mobile phone use had increased from 506 injuries in 2004 to

1506 injuries in 2010. If injuries continue to increase at the

same rate, the researchers predicted over 3,000 injuries per

year by 2015.39 Researchers also noted that injuries are likely

greater than reported by the NEISS data. “Many people who

suffer an injury may not go to the emergency room; they may

go to their primary care doctor, not go to a doctor, may not

report the cell phone as the cause, or may die (newspapers

report incidents of pedestrian mobile phone users getting hit

and killed by cars, busses and trains).”40 Sixteen to twenty-

five year olds were most impacted by distracted walking.41

• A 2013 study by researchers at Ohio State

University examines the causal relationship between

pedestrian use of mobile devices and pedestrian

injuries.37 These authors use data from 2004 to 2010

from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System

(NEISS), a database of hospital data maintained by

the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.

Opportunities to Improve Traffic Safety with Mobile Technologies

New smartphone-based approaches to improve traffic

safety using technological and design-based solutions

have the potential to reduce smart phone distraction

and increase pedestrian safety in urban areas. Some

solutions complement increased enforcement and

penalties for using mobile devices while driving by

integrating the mobile device into the city’s dynamic

street traffic ecosystem.

New smartphone-based approaches

to improving traffic safety [have]

the potential to reduce smart phone

distraction and increase pedestrian

safety in urban areas.

9

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These technologies have the potential to increase

environmental awareness, yet each presents

opportunities and shortcomings:

• Apps that rely on camera technology to increase

ability to see ahead;

• Velocity-detectors that silence alerts from incoming

texts when a smart phone is in motion;

• Apps and wearable devices deploying Natural

User Interface principles;42

• Sensor-based technologies to warn pedestrians of

oncoming traffic;43

• Enabling communication between mobile devices

and vehicles;

By enabling the user to see more, camera-based and

motion-sensing Kinect-based technologies in their

current formats may actually increase distraction by

demanding more focus on the device. (Kinect is a

motion-controlled technology used in gaming consoles

and smart phones.) For example, Type N Walk44, and

Walk N Text for Android45, use a mobile device’s

camera to replace the full screen background image

on a smart phone with live video of the environment

ahead. The texting surface is displayed on top of the

live video. Scientists at the University of Manitoba

used Kinect to create CrashAlert, a tablet that warns

texters of obstacles that are within six feet.46 Critics of

these apps note that pedestrians still must look up to

see obstacles. 47

Kinect-based technologies in their

current formats may actually increase

distraction by demanding more focus

on the device.

10

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Velocity-sensing technology can effectively reduce

distraction for drivers but cannot distinguish between

drivers and passengers in a vehicle, nor can it ascertain

smart phone users riding public transportation. AT&T’s

DriveMode48 app for Android and Blackberry uses a

smart phone’s velocimeter to detect motion greater

than 25 mile-per-hour. When exceeding this speed, the

app sends a customizable auto-reply away message

in response to incoming texts and email messages

and can be set to disable the phone’s touch screen

and audio alerts. This approach is positive since it

eliminates sensory cues that invite distraction but

users may avoid the inconvenience of disabling the

app to adjust to diverse traffic conditions encountered

in urban areas.

Velocity-sensing technology can

effectively reduce distraction for

drivers but cannot distinguish

between drivers and passengers

in a vehicle, nor can it ascertain

smart phone users riding public

transportation.

Another approach to ensure pedestrians are

connected with their surroundings is deploying

Natural User Interface (NUI) design principles

so the smart phone interface does not interfere

with walking and negotiating intersections.

To better understand users and the functionality that

users expect of the smart phone interface, developers

should consider four elements that influence design:

(1) the user; (2) the task; (3) the device; and (4) the

environment. 49 Instead of the device separating people from

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NUI solutions can help

pedestrians stay alert and

use their smart phone by

incorporating wearable

devices that extend smart

phone functionality to

apparel and gesture based

technologies.

their surroundings, NUI challenges developers to

understand why people use their devices in certain

environments then create interfaces with fewer

distractions and potential impairments to safety.50

NUI solutions can help pedestrians stay alert and use

their smart phone without engaging with the mobile

device itself by incorporating wearable devices that

extend smart phone functionality to apparel and

gesture based technologies that require swipes and

not keystrokes.

12

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Perhaps the most promising traffic safety technology

under development deploys wireless communications

to directly connect drivers with pedestrians.

General Motors developed vehicle technology that

communicates with smart phones within 200 yards

using the WiFi Direct protocol. The system is integrated

with vehicle sensors, and when triggered, will alert the

driver to oncoming pedestrians.51 Honda is developing

similar vehicle and smart phone linking systems using

dedicated short-range communications (DSRC).52

These vehicle-to-pedestrian technologies originated

with the U.S. Department of Transportation Connected

Vehicle research and development initiative53 that

aims to tap existing wireless networks, network

connected vehicles and smart phones to give drivers

a “360-degree awareness of hazards and situations

they cannot even see.”54

Vehicle-to-pedestrian technologies [aim] to tap existing wireless networks, network connected vehicles and smart phones to give drivers a “360-degree awareness of hazards and situations they cannot even see.”

13

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Conclusion

The rapid ascent of smart phones in every corner of

daily life has positively and adversely changed the

way people move through urban spaces. For drivers,

using a smart phone in a vehicle is irresponsible

and increasingly regarded by policy markers and

the public as criminal. Pedestrians, whose life can

depend on the behavior of drivers, are unquestionably

safer at New York City intersections when they heed

the New York City DOT’s advice and LOOK! Yet,

as researchers and most smart phone users know,

despite mounting evidence of the hazardous impact

of smart phone use in traffic, mobile devices can

prove irresistible, and for use by pedestrians on

streets, may demand natural user interfaces that

enable pedestrians to stay alert and focused on their

surroundings. Conversely, smart phone technology

itself may facilitate improved traffic safety when

integrated with the diverse ecosystem of New York

City streets since the smart phone is frequently a

Pedestrians, whose life can depend on the behavior of drivers, are unquestionably safer at New York City intersections when they heed the New York City DOT’s advice and LOOK!

common denominator among pedestrians, cyclists and

drivers alike. These technologies deserve further refinement,

demand new innovation and depend on public acceptance

and wide-scale adoption for the promise of technological

smart phone based solutions to meaningfully contribute to

reducing traffic injuries and fatalities.

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References

15

1 The Wireless Association. Pedestrian Injuries Due to Mobile Phone Use in Public Spaces citing CTIA. n.p., 2011. Web. <http://facweb.knowlton.ohio-state.edu/jnasar/crpinfo/research/AAP3092Accidents_Final2013.pdf>

2 Center for Disease Control. “Distracted Driving.” CDC, n.d. Web. <http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/>

3 Ibid.

4 New York City Mayor’s Office (New York). Mayor Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn and Transportation Commissioner Sadik-Khan Release City’s Most Comprehensive Pedestrian Safety Study to Date and Announce Installation of 1,500 Pedestrian Countdown Signals Across the City. PR-356-10, 2010. Web. <http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nyc_ped_safety_study_action_plan.pdf >

5 Consumer Products Safety Commission. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) Dataset. CPSC, 2013. Web. <http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Research--Statistics/NEISS-Injury-Data/>

6 Transportation Alternatives. Walking in Traffic Violence: Pervasiveness of Motor Vehicle Crashes with Pedestrians in New York City. n.p., 2011. Web. <http://transalt.org/files/news/reports/2011/Community_Board_Traffic_Violence_Report.pdf>

7 Ibid.

8 Aaron, Brad. “Bratton’s Bad Data on Pedestrian Injuries Won’t Get Us to Vision Zero.” Streetsblog 16 Jan. 2014, Web. <http://www.streetsblog.org/2014/01/16/brattons-bad-data-on-pedestrian-injuries-wont-get-us-to-vision-zero/>

9 Transportation Alternatives. Walking in Traffic Violence.

10 New York. Use of mobile telephones. New York, §1225-c. Web. <http://www.safeny.ny.gov/phon-vt.htm>

11 National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration. “Regulations.” NHTSA, n.d. Web. <http://www.distraction.gov/content/dot-action/regulations.html>

12 AT&T. It Can Wait. n.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.itcanwait.com>

13 Office of Transportation Policy and Strategy, NYS Department of Transportation. “New York Household Travel Patterns: A Compara-tive Analysis.” US DOT, 2001. Web. <http://info.ornl.gov/sites/publications/files/Pub4859.pdf>

14 NYC Department of Transportation. The New York City Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan. NYC DOT, 2010. Web. <http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nyc_ped_safety_study_action_plan.pdf>

15 New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. “Summary of New York City Motor Vehicle Crashes”. NYS DMV, n.d. Web. <http://dmv.ny.gov/sites/default/files/legacy_files/statistics/2012nyc.pdf>

16 Tuckel, Peter, and Milczarski , William. Pedestrian-Cyclist Accidents in New York State: 2007 – 2010. Hunter College, CUNY, Sep-tember 2011. Web. <http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/communications/repository/files/Pedestrian%20Cyclist%20Accidents_3.pdf>

17 Flegenheimer, Matt. “Crosswalks in New York Are Not Havens, Study Finds.” April 2, 2013. New York Times. Retreived at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/nyregion/study-details-injuries-to-pedestrians-and-cyclists-in-new-york-city.html

18 American College of Surgeons (2012). “Pedestrian accidents are more severe for seniors and more preventable for young people: Trauma surgeons examine injury differences, supervision, and mobile device use in pedestrian collisions with motor vehicles.” Press Release, October 1, 2012.

19 Ibid.

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16

20 New York City (New York). A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to pedestrian safety. [New York, NY:] City Council [2008]. Web. <http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=447127&GUID=F8B7D92C-D55C-4BC6-B102-453292D61CA5>

21 Ibid.

22 Ibid.

23 Transport for London (2010). “Visitor Road Safety.” Retrieved from: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/visitor-pedestri-an-safety-final-report.pdf

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 DOT Press Release on “LOOK!”. Retrieved at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2012/pr12_46.shtml

27 DOT, 2010. “The New York City Pedestrian Safety Study & Action Plan.” Retrieved at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nyc_ped_safety_study_action_plan.pdf

28 City of New York. “Vision Zero”. NYC. n.d. Web. <http://www.nyc.gov/html/visionzero/pages/home/home.html>

29 Goodman, David J., and Flegenheimer, Matt. “De Blasio Announces Steps to Reduce Traffic Deaths.” New York Times 16 Jan. 2014. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/16/nyregion/de-blasio-announces-steps-to-reduce-traffic-deaths.html>

30 City of New York, 2014. “Vision Zero Action Plan.” Retrieved at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/visionzero/pdf/nyc-vision-zero-action-plan.pdf

31 Aaron, Brad. STREETSBLOG NYC. Retrieved at: http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/03/18/dot-speeding-the-leading-cause-of-nyc-traf-fic-deaths-in-2012/

32 Hecht, Peter, Nasar, Jack, and Wener, Richard. “Mobile phones, distracted attention, and pedestrian safety.” Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2008. 40:69-75

33 Stavrinos, Despina, Byington, Katherine, and Schwebel, David. “Effect of Cell Phone Distraction on Pediatric Pedestrian Injury Risk.” Pediatrics, 2009. 123:179

34 Schwebel, David, Stavrinos, Despina, Byington, Katherine, et al. “Distraction and pedestrian safety: How talking on the phone, tex-ting and listening impact crossing the street.” Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2012. 45:266-271

35 Lamberg, Eric M., and Lisa M. Muratori. “Cell Phones Change the Way We Walk.” Gait & Posture, Volume 35, Issue 4 pp 688 – 690 (2012) Retrieved at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22226937

36 Ibid.

37 Nasar, Jack, and Troyer, Derek. “Pedestrian Injuries Due to Mobile Phone Use in Urban Spaces.” Accident Analysis and Prevention 21 Mar. 2013. Web. <http://facweb.knowlton.ohio-state.edu/jnasar/crpinfo/research/AAP3092Accidents_Final2013.pdf>

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid.

41 Ibid.

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17

42 Wigdor, Daniel and Dennis Wixon. “Brave NUI World: Designing Natural User Interfaces for Touch and Gesture.” Burlington: 2011.

43 See WalkSafe, an app developed by researchers at Dartmouth College and University of Bologna that uses the device’s camera to identify oncoming traffic and sends text or vibration warnings. Grifantini, Kristina. “Smart-phone App Warns Pedestrians of Oncoming Cars.” November 28, 2011. MIT Technology Review. See also CrashAlert, which relies on Kinect technology to warn texting pedestri-ans of objects ahead. Soper, Taylor. “This App Uses Kinect Technology to Prevent You from Running into Things While Texting.” May 31, 2013. GeekWire.

44 “Head’s Up! Texting and Walking: There’s an App for That. Gajitz. Retrieved at: http://gajitz.com/heads-up-texting-and-walking-theres-an-app-for-that/ 45 Ibid.

46 Danigelis, Alyssa. “Crash Alert App Clears Way to Walk and Text.” Discovery News, April 26, 2013. Retrieved at: http://news.discov-ery.com/tech/apps/crashalert-app-clears-way-to-walk-and-text-130426.htm

47 Ibid. 48 Ibid.

49 Blake, Joshua. “Introduction to Natural User Interfaces (NUI) and Kinect.” Retrieved at http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/k4wdev/Introduction-to-Natural-User-Interfaces-NUI-and-Kinect.

50 Lim, Ji Jung and Cary Feria. “Visual Search on a Mobile Device while Walking” (2012) Master’s Thesis. Paper 4145, Lamberg, Eric M., and Lisa M. Muratori. “Cell Phones Change the Way We Walk.” vGait & Posture, Volume 35, Issue 4 pp 688 – 690 (2012).

51 See Vehicle-to-Pedestrian “system that alerts drivers to the presence of pedestrians, cyclists, road construction workers and others who have a high chance of coming in contact with a moving vehicle.” Newcomb, Doug. “How Your Smartphone Could Stop a Car From Running You Over.” July 27, 2012. Wired.

52 See Vehicle-to-Pedestrian, which “uses a smartphone’s GPS and dedicated short range communications (DSRC) to warn drivers when a pedestrian steps out from behind a parked car or other obstruction. A light flashes on the dashboard to tell the driver of an ap-proaching pedestrian, while the hapless walker gets an alert on their smartphone.” Lavrinc, Damon. “Honda Thinks Smartphones Can Save Pedestrians From Bad Drivers.” September 3, 2013. Wired.

53 Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. “Connected Vehicle.” US DOT, 2014. Web. <http://www.its.dot.gov/safety_pilot/index.htm>

54 Ibid.


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