From the NYTimes:"Distracted driving has gained much attention lately because of the inflated crash risk posed by drivers using cellphones to talk and text.
But phones aren't just distracting drivers; they make pedestrians inattentive too.
Distracted walking combines a pedestrian, an electronic device and an unseen crack in the sidewalk, the pole of a stop sign, a toy left on the living room floor or a parked (or sometimes moving) car.
Examples include a 16-year-old boy who walked into a telephone pole while texting and suffered a concussion; a 28-year-old man who tripped and fractured a finger on the hand gripping his cellphone; and a 68-year-old man who fell off the porch while talking on a cellphone, spraining a thumb and an ankle and causing dizziness."
References:
Forget Gum. Walking and Using Phone Is Risky. NYTimes.
Video: Stop texting while driving. Terrifying. All drivers should watch this.
Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.