Samsung Fire analyzes 'smombie' risks on Pedestrian Safety Day

96.4% of phone-using crossers fail to check for traffic

40.7% of smombie accident victims are in their 20s or younger

Experts call for pedestrian duty-of-care rules and fault adjustments

[Getty Images Bank]
[Getty Images Bank]

One in six pedestrians crosses a crosswalk while looking at a smartphone, yet in two out of three accidents involving such behavior the pedestrian is assigned zero fault — leaving drivers to bear full responsibility. Experts say it is time to impose a duty of care on pedestrians when crossing the road.

Samsung Fire released the findings Wednesday on Pedestrian Safety Day, drawing on an analysis of so-called "smombies" — a portmanteau of "smartphone" and "zombie" describing people who walk while staring at their phones. The study combined field observations of 14,021 pedestrians at eight crosswalks across Seoul, a survey of 400 members of the general public, and 974 smartphone-related pedestrian accident cases drawn from 164,496 vehicle-pedestrian accidents logged in the insurer's auto insurance claims database over the past five years (2021–2025).

Field observations found that 20.5% of pedestrians used a smart device while waiting to cross, and 16.4% continued using one while actually crossing. Put another way, of every 30 people about to cross a street, roughly five keep their eyes on a screen the entire time — only one stops using the device once the signal changes.

The behavior was also dangerous. Among those using a smart device while crossing, 96.4% did not check for traffic before stepping onto the crosswalk, and 24.6% did not look ahead at all during the crossing. Compared with non-users, the risk of failing to look forward was 38 times higher for those watching video and 43 times higher for those actively operating their screens.

Smombie accidents were concentrated among younger people and in urban areas. Victims aged 20 or younger accounted for 40.7% of smartphone-related pedestrian accidents — about 1.6 times their 24.8% share of all pedestrian accidents. Those in their 20s made up 24.1% of smombie victims, double their 12.0% share of all pedestrian accidents, while teenagers accounted for 15.8%, compared with 8.6% overall. By contrast, those 65 and older represented just 9.9% of smombie victims, less than half their 25.7% share of all pedestrian accidents. The average age of smombie accident victims was 38.6, some 9.2 years younger than the 47.8 average for all pedestrian accidents. By region, Seoul accounted for 35.2% of smombie accidents — 1.5 times its 23.1% share of all pedestrian accidents.

Despite this, accident liability has fallen almost entirely on drivers. In 67.5% of cases where a pedestrian was hit while using a smartphone, the pedestrian was assigned zero fault. The average pedestrian fault rate in such cases was 9.0%, actually 2.2 percentage points lower than the 11.2% average for general pedestrian accidents. The share of cases in which pedestrian fault reached 41% or more was also lower — 4.9%, compared with 8.4% for all pedestrian accidents.

The disparity stems from the fact that current fault-ratio guidelines contain no basis for factoring in a pedestrian's smartphone use. Drivers who use a mobile phone while driving are classified as having committed a significant fault, adding 10 percentage points to their liability. Pedestrians, by contrast, face additional fault only in limited circumstances — such as darting suddenly into traffic or crossing at night with reduced visibility — and only at a 5–10 percentage point level. Smartphone use is not among the recognized aggravating factors.

The survey found that 88.0% of respondents had used a smart device while walking, and 25.0% said they do so even while crossing a road. While 36.1% said they had personally experienced a dangerous situation because of their own phone use, a higher share — 56.8% — said they had been put at risk by someone else's. Some 57.6% of respondents said pedestrians should bear greater responsibility in smombie accidents, and fewer than 15% opposed tougher sanctions such as administrative warnings, fines or expanded fault attribution.

South Korea's current Road Traffic Act places broad pedestrian-protection obligations on drivers but imposes only minimal rules on pedestrians — prohibiting jaywalking and requiring the shortest crossing route — without explicitly requiring them to pay attention while crossing. Some countries have gone further. The United Kingdom's Highway Code instructs pedestrians to remain alert to their surroundings at all times and to look both ways before crossing. California's Vehicle Code includes a due-care obligation for pedestrians. Honolulu enacted an ordinance in 2017 imposing fines for smartphone use while crossing — $15 to $35 for a first offense and up to $99 for a third.

Samsung Fire's Traffic Safety Culture Research Institute said the structure of the current system places nearly all accident liability on drivers even though walking while using a smartphone has become routine, especially among younger people. "The Road Traffic Act should explicitly require pedestrians to exercise caution while crossing, and a new standard should be established to add pedestrian fault when smartphone use is objectively confirmed," the institute said. It added that a phased approach — starting with restrictions on use during crossings, which carry the greatest risk, rather than an outright ban — combined with infrastructure improvements such as ground-level traffic signals and audio guidance, alongside pedestrian safety campaigns, would be the most effective path forward.

Meanwhile, according to the Korean National Police Agency and the Korea Road Traffic Authority, pedestrian traffic accidents last year totaled 35,356, down 3.7% from the previous year, but the death toll rose 0.7% to 926.


won@heraldcorp.com