Man falling onto train tracks highlights the rising problem of 'smartphone zombies'

They’re being dubbed “smartphone zombies” – pedestrians so engrossed in a screen that they’re stumbling into danger.

Doctors say being distracted by a screen is similar to being drunk, but authorities are divided over how to convince people to look up and avoid risking their lives.

“I think if it’s not an epidemic, it’s certainly a big problem that really needs to get taken seriously,” psychiatrist Dr Phillip Tam said.

CCTV footage from one remarkable incident in Sydney shows a train passenger so glued to his mobile he walks straight off the platform. Thankfully he was unharmed, but others are not always so lucky.

Concerns have been raised over the safety of using phones in the street after Queensland recorded half a dozen pedestrian deaths in the last few months.

And doctors say they’re treating an increasing number of people for phone-related injuries caused by distraction.

“We’ve seen people with serious head injuries who’ve been in intensive care for weeks and weeks,” emergency physician Dr Anthony Grabs revealed.

Alarming statistics reveal that 53 per cent of Australian smart phone owners would rather lose their sense of smell than lose their mobile phone.

Brisbane City Council is now monitoring pedestrian behaviour on new cameras and will consider a plan to reduce the speed limit in the CBD to 30 kilometres an hour.

“Everything’s on the table at the moment, so we want to make sure that our response is informed by data,” Brisbane Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner said.

Yet calls to tackle distracted pedestrians were rebuffed by Queensland’s Police Commissioner Ian Stewart.

“Laws will never fix all of the problems we have in society,” he said.

Instead, the Police Commissioner says the solution is to use common sense and look out for each other.

“Give them that friendly pat and say ‘hey, whoo, be careful’,” he advised.