It was found that ninety-seven per cent of people aged 18-29, hence young adults, are smartphone users (Pew Research Center, 2024), and it becomes addictive, especially for this age group. There are risks of Nomophobia (Anshari et al., 2019)and FOMO (Hou et al., 2022), which occur when you cannot check your phone. Additionally, dopamine is released when these young adults finally check their phones and check their notifications. Something that Csikszentmihalyi (1990) "blamed" for creating the feeling of wanting to replicate those experiences as in flow theory. Something that we call an addiction these days. However, it is not without the factor that young adults adapt to the newest technology way much better than other age groups (Olson et al., 2011).

WHO (2023) reported that twenty-one per cent % of road fatalities involve pedestrians. Additionally, the National Roads and Motorists' Association (2019) revealed that thirty-six per cent of pedestrians are distracted by smartphones when crossing the road in the New South Wales area, resulting in 1,900 pedestrians being killed or hospitalised each year until 2018.

Crossing the road while using a smartphone feels like an automated task because our brains have been programmed to completely understand how walking works (Clark, 2015). People understand what would happen if they moved their right feet or their left feet, which is that they will move forward. This encourages young adults, the age group with the most productivity, to multitask (Chang, 2017; Hwang et al., 2014).

There is also a feeling of safety on a signalised crosswalk, which makes pedestrians rely, perhaps too much, on infrastructure (Aghabayk et al., 2021; Larue & Watling, 2022). When pedestrians see the light turn on and it tells them to cross, they will stop looking for incoming vehicles because they are programmed to think that the vehicles will stop and adore the traffic lights.

There is a contrast in what happens when pedestrians cross while using their smartphones. Gruden et al. (2021) found increased crossing time when using smartphones. In contrast, the research done by Dhoke and Choudhary (2023) said that pedestrians disobey road crossing rules because they want to arrive as soon as possible. The conflict of arriving quicker or later to cross adds a more dangerous aspect to crossing while using a smartphone. It gets even worse when the pedestrian plays on a mobile phone while walking, impairing cognitive function and making pedestrians miss what is happening around them (Haga et al., 2015).

There are two main categories of existing solutions: infrastructural and technological. Infrastructural solutions include installing eye-catching signs at intersections or crosswalks and using flashing lights to grab the attention of pedestrians distracted by their phones.

Figure 1. In-Ground Flashing Lights (Larue et al., 2021)

Figure 2. Signs on Crosswalks (Jain et al., 2015)

Technological solutions include GPS-based systems that detect when users use their phones at intersections or sensors attached to shoes that can sense the terrain and send warning notifications. These technologies usually must be integrated with smartphone apps to deliver these alerts. However, these solutions have some challenges: Infrastructural solutions can be expensive to implement, and technological solutions may raise ethical and privacy concerns.

Figure 3. “WalkSafe” Application (Wang et al., 2012)

For example, the "WalkSafe" app in Figure 3 automatically turns on the phone's camera when the user is talking on their phone at an intersection. The app vibrates or sends sound notifications to remind users if a car is detected. However, using cameras to detect surroundings can lead to privacy concerns. Additionally, the app only activates when users make calls, which might be less useful for young adults who use their phones for activities like social media, gaming, or listening to music. These apps may also be inaccurate and can drain the phone's battery, which might discourage users from using them.

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