Smartphones Are Killing Americans, but Nobody’s Counting

From the article: "Finally, the increase in fatalities has been largely among bicyclists, motorcyclists, and pedestrians--all of whom are easier to miss from the driver's seat than, say, a 4,000-pound SUV."

It is also not at all helpful, in at least the instance of pedestrians, that far too many of them have forgotten (or choose to ignore) what they should have been told as a child: "look both ways before crossing the street" and "don't cross when it is not safe to do so".

I regularly see pedestrians who approach a crosswalk across a four-lane arterial road with heavy traffic moving 35-45mph in both directions who do not look for oncoming vehicles, do not slow down, and just barrel on across, expecting that the traffic will always stop (or even can stop, the laws of physics don't get overruled or revoked simply because the pedestrian has the right of way).

It is almost as if some of these pedestrians actively want to become one of those increased fatalities.