Pedestrian safety is important as approximately 5,000 people die and 77,000 are injured annually. Most pedestrian deaths are among the young or intoxicated, as these groups are not apt to display cautionary behaviors or obey traffic laws. The present study hypothesized that distracted walkers would also exhibit less caution and disobey traffic signals more frequently than the non-distracted. Trained observers surreptitiously viewed 867 randomly selected individuals traverse a 7-lane street, with a posted speed limit of 30 mph, at a stop light-controlled intersection that is adjacent to a large university. Pedestrians were rated for obeying the traffic signal, staying within a marked walkway, in addition to looking left and right while crossing the street. The sample was 61% male, and 59% were judged to be in their 20’s. Distracted walkers were defined as those who were drinking, eating, smoking, speaking on a mobile phone or wearing headphones, and constituted 21% (n=182) of pedestrians. Distracted walkers obeyed the walk signal in 37% of observances, while the non-distracted did so in 46% of observations, this difference is statistically significant c2(1,867)=4.3;p<.05. The non-distracted were also more apt to look left, look right and stay within the marked crosswalk cs(1,867)=12.9;p<.05 than the distracted. Findings indicate that the non-distracted are more apt to obey traffic rules and to exhibit caution while traversing a busy street, however data on all walkers is concerning as few obeyed traffic laws and demonstrated caution, suggesting a need for interventions to improve pedestrian behavior near college campuses. Keyword(s): disease prevention