People of Fredericton weigh in on distracted walking

A new poll suggests 66 per cent of Canadians would support regulations to ban distracted walking, and it has its supporters in Fredericton as well.

The poll was conducted by the market research company Insights West. It featured responses from 1,013 Canadians from across the country.

City councillors in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary have either expressed interest or put forward motions to look at penalties for distracted walkers.

Could you enforce it?

A number of people in Fredericton Thursday afternoon summoned up close calls from their own experience.

"I almost ran someone over because she wasn't looking where she was going crossing the street," said Carol. 

Carol wasn't the only one who could quickly think of a situation where they almost ran into, or were run into by someone who had their eyes trained on their phone. 

"I think that would be a great idea," said Alana Scott. "Especially downtown, it's really bad. Like they don't even look when they're going across the crosswalk, they're just on their phones."

Several people noted malls, crosswalks and the city's universities as hotspots for wayward walkers. 

"I think it's a concern, I know it's a big concern on campus. Everybody's walking around, they're not looking where they're going or what's coming at them," said Alaina Sherwood. 

Even among supporters the question of enforcement came up.

"Good luck policing that," said one woman.