en Epidemiology Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Background:</strong> Distracted walking is a major cause of pedestrian fatalities. Along with the expansion and popularity of mobile phones, their impacts on pedestrian safety, especially when crossing urban intersections have attracted a lot of attention. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of mobile-phone use on pedestrians&rsquo; crossing behavior when passing signalized intersections.<br> <strong>Materials and Methods:</strong> An observational study was conducted to compare the behavior of pedestrians using mobile phones (the reference group) with non-mobile phone pedestrians (the time-matched control group and the demographic-matched control group) crossing signalized intersections in 2017. For this purpose, the demographic information and walking behaviors of 513 pedestrians were observed. Furthermore, a binary logistic regression model was used to predict risky behaviors.<br> <strong>Results:</strong> Using mobile phones has a direct impact on the unsafe behavior of pedestrians crossing signalized intersections. Mobile-phone users showed significantly less safe behavior (14.6 times) than non-mobile phone users (p <0.001). Using mobile phones to talk had the greatest impact on the vulnerable behavior of pedestrians (p <0.001). SMS conversations and listening to music were in the next positions, respectively (p = 0.283).<br> <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Using mobile phones can often lead to the carelessness of pedestrians and their exposure to the possible risk of pedestrian-vehicle crashes. Applying the findings of the present research requires effective technologies and strategies to prevent the use of mobile phones by pedestrians at signalized intersections.</span><br> &nbsp;</div> Pedestrians,Distraction,Mobile Phone,Safety, 65 75 http://johe.rums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-258-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Alireza Khosromehr alireza1372thsun@gmail.com 22400319475328460010886 22400319475328460010886 No Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran. Golestan University, Seyed Rasoul Davoodi davoodi76ir@gmail.com 22400319475328460010887 22400319475328460010887 Yes Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran. Golestan University,