This country has decided to ban anyone using mobile phones on the streets

Vilnius, Oct 23: Mobile phones have become a menace while people are on the move. Across the world, thousands of deaths are registered because of carelessness caused by using the phone during a movement - be by foot or vehicle. In India, too, deaths and injuries caused by distraction by mobile phones while walking or driving on the roads is an ever-growing concern.

However, one country has found a way to curb the menace of road accidents caused because of use of mobile phones. As per a new law made in the Baltic state of a population of just over 28 lakh, people will be banned from using their mobile phones the moment they go out of their houses.

The country's Transport Minister Rokas Masiulis said this during a live cabinet meeting recently. "Pedestrians must not use mobile devices before stepping onto the street or walking across it," he said. It has been decided that from November, people talking on the phone while crossing the streets or even checking their devices while on out of their houses will be slapped with a fine of €40 (approx Rs 3,400). The Lithuanian government feels such a law is required to prevent deaths on roads. Lithuania has the third-worst record in the European Union in terms of pedestrian deaths.

High time India takes a leaf out of Lithuania's book?