William Lyons
Consumer Affairs Corespondent
Pedestrians have an "appalling" attitude to road safety, often weaving through traffic or stepping in front of moving cars, causing more than two million accidents, a new report has revealed.
Research by the insurance company. Direct Line, showed that three out of four pedestrians admitted ignoring road crossings in favour of walking past slow-moving or stationary traffic.
More than one in ten of 2,000 adults surveyed said they had stepped in front of a moving vehicle, expecting drivers to stop. Men and women were more likely to cross a road without checking for oncoming traffic if they had been drinking.
Direct Line’s motors spokeswoman, Emma Holyer, said: "Such negligent road use is very worrying. Pedestrians need to be more responsible as this kind of behaviour causes accidents.
"Mobile phones and portable music players are adding fuel to the problem, as many pedestrians are distracted by such devices and are not noticing oncoming vehicles."
Scotland is the worst region for drunks crossing the road, with 29 per cent of pedestrians confessing they dart through traffic after a few drinks.
Paul Smith, the founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign, said: "All road users are responsible for their own safety and for the safety of others. It’s extremely unfortunate that modern policy seems to be setting road user groups against one another. It’s never a good idea to rely on the good behaviour of others for safety, yet pedestrians blame drivers and drivers blame pedestrians.
"We can use established principles to nudge road safety in the right direction - safer every year. But modern policy is giving out some very confusing and misleading messages and making matters worse."
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