New York’s Distracted Pedestrian Problem

A DoorDasher fires back!

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

At this point in time, it’s beyond debate that the cell phone has transformed New York City life in a a major way — mostly for the better,

thankfully. Friends and family can meet up with an ease never experienced before its invention. There’s virtually no need to carry cash anymore. One tap of your phone pays for everything. Need to locate something or somebody? GPS has the answer.

But the cell phone and its usage comes with some downsides as well. People become addicted to social media and stay that way 24/7 with the aid of their cell phone. Drivers text while careening down the road with their eyes glued to the phone screen. Actual verbal communication and socialization can be at risk thanks to our world of more texting and less talking.

But there’s another downside seemingly nobody addresses in the Big Apple. And that’s clueless pedestrians who step into traffic and specifically, bike lanes, while their eyes are glued to the screen.

Questionable research has shown that the myth that pedestrian distraction causes most accidents between vehicles of all types and walkers is false. It’s usually speeders or impaired drivers who are at fault. My empirical observation differs.

I am a DoorDash bike delivery person. In the past four years, I’ve successfully completed 10,675 deliveries for the company. Thus, I have a statistically significant sampling from which to express my opinion. And here it is:

The cell phone and its indiscriminate usage on the streets and in traffic is at an epidemic level. I ask myself over and over again as I avoid clueless pedestrians, “Why would you step off the curb and into a heavily-trafficked street in New York while your eyes and attention are glued to that blasted phone of yours? What is so important that you would risk your well-being and do something that risky?”

When I was a cab driver, I once wrote a story about the Invincible Schwarzeneggers who jaywalked in front of my taxi every night depending on me to save their lives.

In the decades since I last drove, the problem has only gotten worse with the invention of the cell phone. But my plight remains. I still have to save lives every time I go out dashing.

When the cell phone was first invented and very few people owned them, Philadelphia recognized the problem and actually ticketed people for using their phones in the street. So what happened? Why not continue citing irresponsible pedestrians?

The answer is that it isn’t politically expedient. How do you think voters would react if Mayor Mamdani decided to ticket the virtual army of street cellphone users? That was a rhetorical question.

Regardless, I repeat — epidemic non-essential cell phone usage is a problem on the streets of New York.

The studies may differ but consider this reality: How many people who get hit by cars or bicycles admit that they were on their phones when they were hit? There are no studies on that, and my guess is zero.

I mean — who’s gonna admit that when they’re trying to cover medical bills and score punitive damages from the driver’s insurance company? That totally kills their case.

Only if there’s a witness to the event who testifies on behalf of the driver would that fact ever come to light.

I’d bet my life savings that those stats are severely skewered in the favor of irresponsible pedestrians and the lawyers who chase ambulances for a living — all in the interest of making a big financial score.

In conclusion, I say “Get off your phone the minute you step off the curb. I have a timetable to keep with DoorDash. And I’m rapidly losing my patience and incentive to protect your well-being at my own expense if you act foolishly.”