Legislation, Lithuania, Society, Transport

"My amendments first of all seek to start a discussion about the behaviour of traffic participants in our country. Statistics reveal that numbers of pedestrians get injured at pedestrian crossings every year. Of course, there are cases when drivers are to be blamed for that that, but today we unfortunately do not have any statistical data on how many pedestrians cause such accidents when they walk into a pedestrian crossing without even looking around to see what is going on," the MP said.

"Knowing that speaking on a mobile phone at a pedestrian crossing is prohibited will result in better alertness of pedestrians". Jankauskas said he did not know if his counterparts at the Seimas would approve his proposal but they have already had a heated discussion on the matter.

When asked whether the prohibition to speak on a phone while crossing a street would solve the problem of pedestrians getting hurt or dying at crosswalks, especially that many people still cross the street at the red traffic light and intoxicated pedestrians do not think about any rules at all, Jankauskas answered that he did not think that his proposal would resolve all issues but it would be yet another step in improving traffic safety and culture of traffic participants.