@danbrotherston @mbonsma
I'm well aware of the wonderful pedestrians-only streets & pedestrian-friendly city/town areas.....there are even some in the US. I love the idea, & think it should be adopted in many more places. However, in areas where that's not the case, and people, cars, trucks, bikes and even streetcars all share the streets, I think that pedestrians must be alert, & not assume they are safe, because it's not a good assumption. This isn't about "blame".
@lolonurse @mbonsma
First of all, you literally used the word "fault"...so seems like you do care about blame.
But to the main point, the OP used the word "SHOULD"...as in, it is an aspirational thing. So you seem to be arguing that you don't believe it should be the case that our roads are safe enough that distracted (or perhaps, for example, blind, pedestrians, or child pedestrians) can be safe on those streets, rather than that they aren't that now.