Mobile phones and safety on the railway and other transport

[Peter Sarf]

I found myself drifting off the topic of the 701s while wanting to reply to these.

As someone who is a yellow line shouter, (albeit not as far up as CLJ) I sympathise with you. I shouldn't have to shout nor do I want to, but I'd rather be seen to be keeping people safe should something happen and it was found on that occasion I wasn't shouting.

On the subject of less 701s working the actual beef of the route, it is a shame. They have a knack of hoovering up a lot of people in a very short time, something the 450s tend not to be able to do

reply :-

You have my sympathies my friend. As some one who worked at CLJ in the 70's, I can understand where you come from. But back then the major distraction for most commuters was their newspaper, and irrespective of that, most knew to stand back for any arriving train, knowing damn well many doors on an arriving train would be flying open (think class 405 SUB days) on their approach to the station.

Common sense, as we use to call it, but I have even been called out on this forum for using that phrase. That tell's me much about todays expectations, unless the individual concerned was just having a dig at me?

Do away with access to mobile phone connectivity when in, on, or about railway premises, and I would wager 'one' would witness a far greater respect of the rules that one would expect when in such environments.

No different to the same that is only now being recognised in relation to school class room environments, and other areas of concern.

Message for Mr A. Burnham etc. Get a grip, and come down hard on the sources of many problems in this country. You can change laws within days, if it suits you. Get a grip my friend, many out here are still waiting to see real results.

I agree mobile phones are a hazard. Mobile phones and people crossing the road is a bad mix I often see. Even tried to explain to a girl how close she came to ending up under a tram recently (she had no idea).

But yes, in the case of railway platforms, you knew there was bound to be a door hitting you if you got too close. It was not if but when. Perhaps now that the danger of swinging open doors has gone people edge unwittingly towards the, less likely, next risk - getting hit by the train or slipping under it !.

As a pedestrian I can often judge when a driver is on their mobile phone, usually while I am waiting to cross the road. Road positioning not quite right, driving at a different pace to those in front and behind. When they get close enough I can see. Only yesterday my attention was drawn to a van crashing its gears - as it got closer I could see the left hand had a mobile in it.

 

[Mike_L_Surrey]

As a car driver it’s very easy to accumulate several ‘near misses’ due to inattentive pedestrians every day and I find myself shouting ‘put that xxx phone down’ especially at pedestrians who are dawdling across the road whilst still studying their phone.
If necessary & traffic is slow enough, I could slam on the brakes to try& avoid someone but that’s not so easy for a train driver.

I can imagine how stressful this can be for them.

 

[Peter Sarf]

As a car driver it’s very easy to accumulate several ‘near misses’ due to inattentive pedestrians every day and I find myself shouting ‘put that xxx phone down’ especially at pedestrians who are dawdling across the road whilst still studying their phone.
If necessary & traffic is slow enough, I could slam on the brakes to try& avoid someone but that’s not so easy for a train driver.

I can imagine how stressful this can be for them.

Some of the pedestrians I see wandering across the road look like they just do not care. It is as though they think it is not up to them to be careful despite the fact it is them who will get hurt.

Mind you my mother had someone she hit as she reversed out of a space - turned out the man had been waiting for her to move and was known to security for trying to get a claim in. So I wonder if some of the pedestrians I see are out for a quick claim ?.

Talking of train drivers there does seem to be an exclusive issue for them due to avoiding actions being impossible.

As for other public transport. My better half was quite upset over an accident involving the bus she was on. I know the crossing near West Croydon and I always see people chancing it (I do BUT I look at the traffic not what other pedestrians are doing). This time all the people jumped back onto the pavement when the horn was sounded except for one person who did not notice and was dashing across "after" the herd - splat on the windscreen. I bet they are more careful now and I just hope the driver did not get into trouble or suffer. If that junction was a railway road crossing a footbridge would be demanded as it is impossibly busy.

 

[Polarbear]

Agreed-this is becoming something of a larger problem, and not just in the context of railways.

On railways, I often see people walking around with mobiles close to their face. Invariably, the person won’t be looking ahead, but downward toward the phone in the hand(s). If I had a penny for each time someone doing that has almost walked into me, I’d be significantly better off!

I understand that people will be using mobiles for directions (I do myself). However, I don’t tend to keep looking at the screen whilst walking at pace, instead stopping occasionally to check where I’m up to.

It causes no end of issues, from passengers waiting on platforms, to people slowing down on stairs/passageways to focus on their phone.

I frequently wait for my bus home opposite a busy junction in Liverpool. The number of people I witness, just strolling out into the road, glued to their scree, with a vehicle barrelling down the road, is scary! I hate to say it, but I’ll witness a fatality at that junction because of that.

Then there’s my workplace-a large office building. As with many places, there are regular fire evacuation drills. Even here, the number of staff scrolling through social media whilst walking downstairs (and holding many other people up in the process) is staggering!

Mobiles are very useful, but there are an increasing number of people who are becoming seriously addicted to their use.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Agreed-this is becoming something of a larger problem, and not just in the context of railways.

On railways, I often see people walking around with mobiles close to their face. Invariably, the person won’t be looking ahead, but downward toward the phone in the hand(s). If I had a penny for each time someone doing that has almost walked into me, I’d be significantly better off!

I understand that people will be using mobiles for directions (I do myself). However, I don’t tend to keep looking at the screen whilst walking at pace, instead stopping occasionally to check where I’m up to.

It causes no end of issues, from passengers waiting on platforms, to people slowing down on stairs/passageways to focus on their phone.

I frequently wait for my bus home opposite a busy junction in Liverpool. The number of people I witness, just strolling out into the road, glued to their scree, with a vehicle barrelling down the road, is scary! I hate to say it, but I’ll witness a fatality at that junction because of that.

Then there’s my workplace-a large office building. As with many places, there are regular fire evacuation drills. Even here, the number of staff scrolling through social media whilst walking downstairs (and holding many other people up in the process) is staggering!

Mobiles are very useful, but there are an increasing number of people who are becoming seriously addicted to their use.

Some good examples of how social media is taking us over.

Never mind - perhaps AI can do the important things for us !.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I will admit to having watched a pavement collision take place between two mobile phone zombies who were walking towards each other recently. While I could have shouted a warning to them both, I decided not to as they both obviously needed to learn a lesson the hard way about watching where they were going.

Unfortunately, after picking themselves up, they both carried on in full zombie mode...

 

[Tracked]

2016: Chesterfield station used to have a message on their display screens for people playing Pokemon Go (it was that years craze, several people I worked with used to go out at lunch to catch them ... ), telling them to be aware of their surroundings and not to walk onto the track .

I don't think it's been that bad since (certainly not seen that message since 2016), but there was some sort of event in Doncaster last year where some new thing to catch was being let out in the market. The queue for it was halfway through the town

 

[Stan63]

I recall recently in Glasgow city centre on Argyle Street watching a guy walking in front of me, glued to his phone, stepping out on the road as a bread delivery lorry hurtled through the junction at speed. I grabbed the guy's backpack and pulled him back onto the pavement just in time to prevent him being knocked down. I never got a thank you or a nod, just that look as if i'd asked him a difficult trigonometry question.
Having previously seen someone knocked down by a black cab on Union Street, I did not wish to witness this again but there must be loads of near misses every day due to people staring at phone screens.

Stan

 

[Peter Sarf]

I will admit to having watched a pavement collision take place between two mobile phone zombies who were walking towards each other recently. While I could have shouted a warning to them both, I decided not to as they both obviously needed to learn a lesson the hard way about watching where they were going.

Unfortunately, after picking themselves up, they both carried on in full zombie mode...

Years ago I remember walking along the pavement alongside my best friend. We ended up bouncing off each other. I realised it was because we were both aiming for the same zombie coming towards us.

I do try not to take avoiding action as I am interested in seeing how close they get - usually about five feet. And the vain hope the zombie might learn something.

Now translate this to someone looking at their phone while driving - that five feet is not a distance appropriate for safe reactions !.

When I cross the road - even one controlled with lights - I always look at the traffic to judge if the driver is stopping. Some cars do seem to slow down then appear not to be stopping. It is a tell tale sign they are looking at their mobile - usually on their lap. The change in speed is the periodic adjustment as they occasionally look up. I reckon it is less than 50% attention to the road, after all how long does it take to read a sentence.

I was on the 119 bus going home one evening and we caught up with a car driving slowly. I was upstairs at the front. The car was not driving in the middle of the lane but was wandering about. I thought drunk. At the lights the bus pulled alongside and I could see down into the car enough to see the driver was watching a film/video on their lap !.

I would like to have got off the bus and taken some photos plus give the "driver" a piece of my mind. But the lights went green and the bus driver was keen to overtake.

I recall recently in Glasgow city centre on Argyle Street watching a guy walking in front of me, glued to his phone, stepping out on the road as a bread delivery lorry hurtled through the junction at speed. I grabbed the guy's backpack and pulled him back onto the pavement just in time to prevent him being knocked down. I never got a thank you or a nod, just that look as if i'd asked him a difficult trigonometry question.
Having previously seen someone knocked down by a black cab on Union Street, I did not wish to witness this again but there must be loads of near misses every day due to people staring at phone screens.

Stan

People like that just seem so oblivious to the risk, the actual near miss and ones intervention. It is clear they will just carry on until they die.

Which is not nice for other road users or train drivers.