A new survey done by Safe Kids Worldwide showed distracted walking is on the rise.
The study found teens and young students aren’t crossing the road in a safe way and are being injured and killed by motorists.
The study observed 39,000 middle and high school students and 56,000 drivers in school zones in 2016.
They found 1 in 4 high school students and 1 in 6 middle school students were walking while distracted, using their cell phones or wearing headphones.
The organization has seen a 13 percent increase in the pedestrian death rate for teens ages 12-19 since 2013.
Safe Kids found that about 80 percent of teens crossed the street in an unsafe way and unsafe drop off and pick up practices happened in one in three times.
Schools can actually reach out and ask us to do a safety audit. That means {measuring} walk-ability, bike-ability as well as auditing car pool lines.
You can read the entire study here.
Contact Safe Kids Upstate here.
