A piece of fake news about pedestrians being fined S$150 on the spot for crossing the road while using their phones is making the rounds on Facebook and messaging apps since March 19, 2018:

In case the post has been removed, this is what it said:

The caption read:

They are desperately seeking money. Crossing road using hp, fine S$150 on the spot pay cash!!!!!!!!!!!!! KNN, money face!

Within six hours of the post's appearance, it was shared more than 4,800 times.

Not true

However, this piece of misinformation can be easily debunked.

There has not been news or updates regarding changes to traffic laws in Singapore that make using one's phone while crossing the road punishable with a fine.

Subsequently, a second post was shared by the same person, who clarified about five hours after putting up the first misleading post, that the initial information was not true:

Reactions

Reactions to the initial post about the Singapore police collecting fines on the spot for using the phone while crossing the road, showed there are a fair share of credulous believers and disbelieving sceptics:

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Jaywalking accidents have been rising

What can be ascertained is that the number of accidents involving jaywalking pedestrians rose by 21 percent in the first six months of 2017.

About 30 percent of the cases involved the elderly.

There were 161 accidents where pedestrians jaywalked in the first six months of 2017, up from 133 in the same period last year, and 109 for the year before.

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