Should we start fining phone users on footpaths? This mayor says yes!

City streets have always been crowded, but lately it feels like walking has become a high-stakes sport.

Are you dodging distracted pedestrians glued to their phones or sighing at couples blocking the footpath?

Melbourne’s Lord Mayor believes our walking manners have hit a new low—and he’s not holding back.

The Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Nicholas Reece, sparked conversation last week over what he called a walking etiquette crisis. In an op-ed, he questioned why so many people were 'drifting diagonally like bishops on a chessboard' and described Melburnians as 'so engrossed in their phone they are oblivious to the bustling reality around them'.

His piece in The Age was titled 'Pedestrian etiquette in Melbourne has reached new lows. It's time for a "keep left" crackdown'.

Melbourne has a long history of trying to enforce walking rules. Arrows on footpaths once guided pedestrians to stick to the correct side, but these faded in the 1970s. The city's 'stick to the left' rule dates back to 1925, shortly after Sydney introduced the same measure in 1921.

Modern technology, however, has complicated the rules. Smartphones and headphones often distract walkers from their surroundings, creating collisions and slowing traffic flow.

Authorities have experimented with awareness campaigns to tackle the issue. In 2015, the Share Our Streets initiative distributed 12,000 tip cards to pedestrians at busy intersections, advising them to look up from their phones and obey traffic signals.

The Pedestrian Council of Australia followed in 2016 with a confronting commercial that depicted a woman so absorbed in her phone she was struck by traffic.

Pedestrian deaths across Australia have surged almost 50 per cent since 2021, according to recent nationwide road safety figures.

Research has highlighted the scale of the problem. In 2022, Monash University found that 42 per cent of Melbourne phone users failed to check the road before crossing. In 2016, Mark Giancaspro from the University of Adelaide reported that one in three pedestrians used a mobile phone while crossing roads and argued for potential laws to prohibit phone use while walking.

The idea of fines is not unprecedented. Honolulu was the first city to penalise distracted pedestrians, issuing roughly $150 fines for those caught crossing streets while doomscrolling.

A spokesperson for the Lord Mayor’s office confirmed his comments were 'intended to be a conversation-starter' and that no official plans existed to introduce fines in Melbourne—at least not yet.

Have you ever found yourself dodging a phone-obsessed pedestrian and wondered if stricter rules could make city walking safer?