'Zombie pedestrians': DGT launches Easter road safety campaign as such accidents skyrocket

It is an increasingly common sight in today's society: pedestrians using the time spent waiting at traffic lights to check their email, replying to a WhatsApp or getting caught up in endlessly scrolling through Instagram or whatever social media app they're currently favouring.

They immerse themselves in their own little smartphone world, oblivious to what's happening in the street, similar to zombies.

This type of 'zombie pedestrian' is precisely the focus of the Easter road safety campaign launched this Tuesday by Spain's directorate-general of traffic (DGT).

This year's initiative centres on pedestrians who step onto pedestrian crossings paying more attention to their mobile phone than to their surroundings.

"The data tells us that one in three pedestrians crosses the road while looking at their mobile phone, a very dangerous behaviour as, by not paying attention to their surroundings, the risk of being hit by a car skyrockets", stated the DGT, which is headed by Pere Navarro.

With the slogan 'You don't want to miss anything and you end up missing everything' and the hashtag #PerderseLaVida (#MissingOutOnLife'), the national traffic authority wants to draw attention to pedestrian safety. The ad shows a young man walking across a pedestrian crossing, engrossed in his mobile phone.

There's plenty going on around him, some real, some dreamlike (a celebrity being chased by paparazzi, a runaway bride, young girls performing some dance routine) but nothing catches his attention because he's too caught up in what's happening on his phone.

"Reckless behaviour that ends tragically when he is fatally struck by a moving vehicle that he also failed to see coming," said the DGT.

Produced by Be Sweet for Ogilvy, the campaign will be broadcast from Tuesday until 13 April via television, radio, in print and on digital and social media platforms.