61.7% of pedestrian casualties were using a phone — three years of insurance records

In May 2018, Korean broadcasters reported an analysis by Samsung Traffic Safety Research Institute of three years of pedestrian claims at a major insurer. There were 1,723 accidents in which pedestrians hadn't been watching their surroundings. They left 1,760 people injured and 31 dead.

"사상자의 61.7%는 휴대전화를 사용하던 중 사고를 당했는데, 그 중 절반 이상은 10대 혹은 20대였습니다."

"61.7% of the casualties were using a mobile phone at the time, and more than half of them were teenagers or in their twenties." — MBC News (May 13, 2018)

The accidents clustered at 8 and 9 a.m. — the walk to school and to work. When the institute watched about 10,000 pedestrians, roughly one in five crossed the road looking at a smartphone, and 84.8% of those didn't even look left and right.

What this shows

The peak hours line up with the walk to school. The more familiar a route, the easier it is to walk it looking at a phone. Walk the crossings on your child's route with them and agree: "here, the phone goes in your pocket."