Officials have no plans to ban pedestrians from wearing headphones or using mobile phones, despite concerns they're walking time bombs.
Earlier this week road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson said police should have the power to confiscate devices from pedestrians and cyclists, for their own good.
"You're not allowed to drive drunk, why should you be allowed to drive or cross the road while you're in a trance?" the editor of car review site dogandlemon.com said.
"Electronic distractions are rapidly becoming one of the biggest factors in our rising road toll. Multiple people are dying because they can't hear the approach of a train or motor vehicle."
Ministry of Transport figures supplied to Newshub show in the past five years, 156 pedestrians died in road accidents - but only one of those was attributed to diverted attention.
In the same period there were 1194 serious injuries, of which only 32 were blamed on pedestrians' diverted attention, which includes phones and headphones, but also non-technological causes, such as smoking.
"In terms of a ban or restriction on pedestrians using cellphones or other personal music devices with headphones, this is not something that is currently being considered," the Ministry of Transport told Newshub in a statement.
The Ministry of Transport figures don't include pedestrian deaths rail crossings. NZTA figures show between 2005 and 2015, 153 people lost their lives in train accidents (excluding suicides), and only one was a cyclist.
Over that same time period 98 deaths were classified as 'person on track', but only 18 of those occurred at level crossings. It's not clear how many were the result of diverted attention.
"Whilst we are always open to and welcome measures that promote rail safety, enforcing a ban on pedestrians using earphones around the rail network would be very challenging," KiwiRail told Newshub in a statement.
ACC figures also suggest few Kiwis are being seriously hurt because they're not paying attention. In 2016, there were 37 claims relating to using phones and headphones while out running or walking, and 33 while driving - adding up to less than $30,000 in claims.
In the same year, there were so few claims relating to cycling and using phones/headphones, ACC refused to say how many there were for privacy reasons. The total cost was $626.
The number of claims due to driving more than doubled between 2014 and 2016, from 15 to 33.
ACC said its figures depended on how much information was provided by the claimant, and shouldn't be considered definitive.
Newshub.
