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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Atlanta, GA | Posted: February 20, 2018
lance.wallace@comm.gatech.edu
Summary Sentence:
Walking while distracted is a safety and security hazard police want to address on campus.
Full Summary:
"Be aware of your surroundings" means looking up from your phone while walking.
GTPD to Launch Distracted Walking Awareness CampaignOne of the mantras Georgia Tech Police often repeat to improve safety in the campus community is, “Be aware of your surroundings.”
Students, faculty and staff hear and see the phrase so often that it has lost some of its meaning over time. To reinvigorate the reminder and further drive home the point that people can take steps to protect themselves, the Georgia Tech Police Department is launching a new campaign to generate awareness of the dangers of distracted walking.
“Everybody does it,” said GTPD Capt. Tony Leonard. “We’ve all seen the funny videos on social media of people walking into traffic or falling into a fountain because they’re looking at their phone and not watching where they’re going. It’s not funny when you’re the one injured or the victim of a robbery attempt.”
The dangers of distracted driving are well documented, and many states have outlawed the use of mobile phones when behind the wheel. Distracted walking is taken less seriously by the public even though the consequences can be severe.
A study published as early as 2012 by New York’s Stony Brook University showed that those who texted while walking were 60 percent more likely to drift off course than those who were not texting. A Pew Research Center study in 2014 found that 53 percent of all adult mobile phone owners have either been on the giving or receiving end of a distracted walking encounter.
To help drive home the point, GTPD is soliciting true stories of distracted walking on the Georgia Tech subreddit.
The National Safety Council campaign “Heads Up, Phone Down” offers the following common-sense suggestions to help mobile phone users stay safe:
“We all need to pay better attention to our surroundings when we’re walking, particularly off campus and at night,” said GTPD Chief Rob Connolly. “We hope by giving this problem some visibility, we’ll help our campus community stay safe.”
