You’ll see it during rush hour in downtown Honolulu and elsewhere. Motorists inching through traffic and pedestrians crossing busy intersections. One thing many have in common is that their eyes are cast down, staring at their phones.

Drivers distracted by their devices are a rising cause of crashes, but there are also a growing number of pedestrians oblivious to traffic. In Hawaii, text messaging while driving is illegal. Pedestrians, too, should refrain from such conduct while in the potentially dangerous public space of a crosswalk.

That’s why the “distracted walking” bill, introduced by Honolulu City Councilman Brandon Elefante, is worthwhile. The measure, which prohibits pedestrians from looking at their cellphones or other electronic mobile devices while crossing the street, won final approval from the City Council last week.

While it allows speaking on a phone, the proposed ordinance bans texting or anything else that requires looking at a device, including using laptop computers, video gaming gear and pagers. Councilman Trevor Ozawa removed digital video devices from that list, and it’s unclear whether that includes cameras on cellphones. Here’s hoping his tweak does not muddy the matter.

Nationwide, the number of pedestrians killed in traffic jumped 11 percent last year, to nearly 6,000 — the biggest single-year increase in such fatalities since record-keeping started, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. In addition to longstanding contributing factors, such as speeding motorists and failure-to-yield, the nonprofit group, representing state highway safety offices, noted: “Another potential factor is a sharp rise in the use of smartphones to send and receive multimedia messages, a frequent source of mental and visual distraction for both walkers and drivers.”

Councilman Ernie Martin and others opposing Bill 6 have called it a regulatory overreach, maintaining that the digital-age problem would be better addressed with a “public awareness/education” campaign. But it’s doubtful that PSAs alone — even those featuring alarming videos and true-story cautionary tales — are likely to prod pedestrians to make a habit of stowing the all-absorbing screens. What will? Adding the possibility of a fine might do it.

If Mayor Kirk Caldwell signs off on the measure, which could be the first of its kind in the nation, it will slap first-time offenders with fines from $15 to $35; a second citation within the same year, $35 to $70; and subsequent offenses during 12 months, up to $99.

Oahu’s ongoing “Click It or Ticket” policing efforts supports this tactic for effecting behavioral change. Hawaii’s safety belt law has been on the books since the mid-1980s, and no one doubts that buckling up means better safety protection. But the real-deal effectiveness of Click It or Ticket is the threat of a $102 ticket.

Fittingly, the idea for cracking down on distracted walking was presented to Elefante by digital natives, Youth For Safety club members at Waipahu and Pearl City high schools. Its members have watched a steady stream of students enter crosswalks while texting or otherwise focused on some sort of hand-held screen — often while wearing ear-buds, which, of course, further impairs ability to size up surrounding traffic.

In testimony at Honolulu Hale, Taylor Fujimoto, a Waipahu High sophomore, said: “I have seen peers step down from a curb to cross the street without looking for any oncoming vehicles, or whether approaching ones have come to a complete stop. In addition, many others cross the street leisurely without even sparing a glance at the signal timer ticking down.”

The Honolulu Police Department, which backs the bill, correctly asserts that traffic safety is a shared responsibility requiring collaboration. When a pedestrian commits a hazardous act in a crosswalk, it can endanger motorists, cyclists and other pedestrians.

Current state law requires a motorist to stop and yield right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk when the walker is in the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling, or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the other half as to be in danger. Pedestrians are expected to obey traffic signals and cross only when the white “Walk” sign is visible. Launching from the curb when the red “Don’t Walk” or upraised hand flashes could fetch a $130 fine.

Looking at a phone or various other electronic devices while also navigating traffic flow is dangerous. Each day in the U.S., about nine people are killed and more than 1,000 injured in crashes involving a distracted driver, according to federal figures. In the interest of public safety, laws banning such distraction should apply to both motorists and pedestrians.