Nearly a third of Brits admit to using their phone while crossing the road

Almost a third of Brits admit to being glued to their phones when crossing the road, leading to many drivers having to take evasive action.

The survey of 2,000 UK drivers by Fiat has found that almost a quarter had honked their horn with a similar proportion having braked heavily to avoid people blindly crossing the road while distracted by their phone.

Sixteen per cent said they had been forced to swerve to avoid someone.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these figures rose in London, with 36 per cent saying they had beeped at a pedestrian and 37 per cent forced to brake.

Fiat’s research found that while almost a third of Brits admitted to using their phone when crossing the road in the past 12 months, that figure rises to 80 per cent for 18 to 24 year olds.

For some motorists, advanced driver assistance systems were seen as a useful solution to this problem, with 33 per cent overall saying they would prefer this technology on their car. That number rose to 48 per cent of Londoners.

Greg Taylor, managing director of Fiat UK, said: “It’s worrying to see such a high number of pedestrians being overly distracted by their phones and putting themselves at risk.”

The research also looked at which phone apps and activities were most popular among Brits, with texting (35 per cent), WhatsApp (33 per cent) and using the Internet (32 per cent) the most common.

Pedestrians also shared their most common mishaps while using a phone, with tripping over and nearly walking into a lamppost the most common at 17 per cent each, followed by bumping into someone (16 per cent).