Italy to fine pedestrians €75 for using phones while crossing roads

Italy is preparing to tighten its traffic law to address dangerous situations in which drivers are forced to brake suddenly because pedestrians step into the road while distracted, according to German magazine Stern. Under the new rules, pedestrians caught crossing at a crosswalk or on the road while looking at their phones would face a €75 fine. The regulation is expected to be approved in mid-October. The proposed law would classify as "distracted" anyone crossing the street whose attention is solely on a screen, and would also ban the use of laptops, tablets and cameras while crossing. Headphones that impair traffic awareness would likewise be prohibited. The draft emphasizes that pedestrians must ensure drivers have seen them and will stop before stepping into the road. The move follows rulings by Italian courts that have, in some cases, assigned partial responsibility to pedestrians. Italy is not the first European country to take such a step: Spain already fines phone-using pedestrians who fail to look before crossing €80, while Lithuania's penalties can reach €40.