Hungarian police uses child zombies to raise awareness – VIDEO

People walking down the street with their phones in their hands, their head kept down, their gaze locked on the screen, seemingly perceiving absolutely nothing form the outside world. Does it sound familiar? Digital natives help the world go forward, but they can be quite dangerous both to themselves and to others in traffic.

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I think the very first thing that anyone learns at drivers’ ed. is to always pay attention to your surroundings. When you are driving a car, hopefully, you are constantly looking around, looking at the other cars, the pedestrians on the sidewalk, etc. What about pedestrians? Do they have the same responsibility to always pay attention to the other road users? Yes! Unfortunately, many Hungarian pedestrians do not know or do not care about this obligation.

Index reported that the Hungarian police posted a new video on their YouTube channel to raise awareness to the lack of attention pedestrians pay to their surroundings in traffic.

In the 21st century, we are used to paying extra attention to people who are seemingly unable to look away from their phones, not even while crossing the street. These people often bump into others, they step down the sidewalk when they should not, and sometimes they even bump into objects like lamps or trash cans. Their behaviour is very similar to that of zombies – an observation that the Hungarian police also made. Check out their educational video entitled Responsibly, even as a pedestrian! below:

The police warn that it can have very serious consequences when pedestrians do not pay enough attention to their surroundings in heavy traffic. Pedestrians are the most likely to be injured or even die if they get involved in an accident on the road.

According to statistics, 2,500 pedestrians are hit by cars in Hungary annually, and 150 of those victims die as a result of the accident. The message of the video is crystal clear: Do not be a zombie!

The situation is worst when pedestrians wear grey or dark clothes at night, and it becomes almost impossible to spot them.

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According to the police, pedestrians pay significantly less attention to their surroundings and to the other road users when the weather is bad (e.g., it is raining or snowing) because then they only focus on getting from point A to point B as fast as possible.

The best advice for drivers is to always slow down near pedestrian crossings, bus or tram stops, or near “pedestrian-heavy” areas. And for pedestrians, the instruction is as simple as it gets: do not look at your phone while walking in traffic, pay attention to where you are going, always pay attention the other road users, and stay safe!

Featured image: Youtube.com/watch?v=P_3RHfeKWDw

Source: www.index.hu; www.police.hu