Lambs to slaughter ... the image used in the Pedestrian Council of Australia's campaign. Similar legislation has yet to be introduced in Australia but NSW Police said "should legislation such as that described be introduced, it would receive our support and ongoing attention". The position is a marked turnaround from the views of NSW Police State Traffic Commander John Hartley, who said in 2007, when the US laws were first talked about, that "you can't legislate stupidity". The reason for the change in position is unclear - national pedestrian road deaths have been falling consistently, from 351 in 1996 to 173 last year. In NSW, there has been a slight rise in pedestrian road deaths from 59 to 64 between 2009 and 2010, the RTA says. The Pedestrian Council of Australia has been running advertisements showing people with lamb heads using their gadgets while crossing the road at a red light under the banner "Lambs to the slaughter, wait for the green".

The council's spokesman, Harold Scruby, said there should be a much stricter legislation and enforcement campaign to complement his awareness campaign. He also said device manufacturers had a "moral and corporate responsibility" to put warnings on their mobiles and music players. In September last year a 46-year-old Sydney woman from Glebe was knocked down and killed by an ambulance - reportedly while wearing headphones - as she crossed Parramatta Road. "They put you in la-la land, aside from the fact that, if you're using two buds you've lost the stop, look and listen awareness of things around you," Mr Scruby said. He also criticised current laws that allowed drivers to operate vehicles and bicycles with an earbud in each ear ("they don't hear tooting, fire engines, police vehicles, ambulances ... ") and said police were generally not enforcing laws governing people crossing roads. "You step off the footpath against a red light in America and they book you [but] in Australia they don't touch you - you see cops standing next to people who are walking against the lights," he said.

Already, Australian motorists face significant fines and three demerit points for driving or riding a vehicle while using a mobile phone, even when stopped at traffic lights. Hands-free kits are allowed but not "if it causes you to lose proper control of your vehicle", the RTA says. People with learner or P1 provisional licenses are prohibited from using their phones while driving, with or without a hands-free. But with drivers now gadget-free, attention is turning to pedestrians and their risk of walking into oncoming traffic while zoning out with their music players or sending texts. The ability of mobiles to distract people from the outside world was brought home to a global audience this month when a US woman tumbled head first into a shopping centre fountain while texting. She later threatened to sue the mall. The New York senator who has been pushing the new rules for pedestrians, Carl Kruger, said people could not be fully aware of their surroundings while "fiddling with a BlackBerry, dialling a phone number, playing Super Mario Brothers on a Game Boy or listening to music on an iPod".

He cited a rise in "accidents stemming from pedestrian distraction", including the death of a 21-year-old man crushed by a Mack truck while listening to music. In Australia, official figures do not allow one to drill down to see the number of people killed or injured while distracted by their gadgets. However, according to the Department of Infrastructure, 173 pedestrians were killed on Australian roads last year, down slightly from 195 in 2009. NSW Police said the community should be mindful that road use - whether as a driver, rider or pedestrian - was a complex task requiring alertness, awareness, compliance with the road rules and good judgment at all times. "Any distraction from the task of safely using our roads has the potential consequence of reducing road safety and for that reason we encourage all road users to apply their best efforts and full attention to the task at hand when on our roads," it said.

Spokespeople for the NSW Police and transport ministers directed requests for comment to the office of the Roads Minister, David Borger. Mr Borger's office did not immediately respond to questions over whether any legislation similar to that adopted in the US would be introduced in NSW.