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Duh! Texting while walking is Hazardous to your Health!

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:10 pm
by MSI
Dec 18, 2012: Like we alread didn't know? but sometimes you have to keep hammering the message home (think about how long it took folks to accept safety belts!)
so for another message of the obvious...
  • And as a continuation of the thread Walk and chew gum? HA! Try it talking on a cell phone!!
    yet another study which states the obvious:
    • "There are a lot of analogies with drunk driving," said the senior author, Dr. Beth E. Ebel, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. "Cellphones are great, but when they intrude into tasks that require our full concentration, it puts all of us at risk."
      • Impact of social and technological distraction on pedestrian crossing behaviour: an observational study
        Abstract:
        • Objectives The objective of the present work was to study the impact of technological and social distraction on cautionary behaviours and crossing times in pedestrians.
        Methods:
        • Pedestrians were observed at 20 high-risk intersections during 1 of 3 randomly assigned time windows in 2012. Observers recorded demographic and behavioural information, including use of a mobile device (talking on the phone, text messaging, or listening to music). We examined the association between distraction and crossing behaviours, adjusting for age and gender. All multivariate analyses were conducted with random effect logistic regression (binary outcomes) and random effect linear regression (continuous outcomes), accounting for clustering by site.
        Results:
        • Observers recorded crossing behaviours for 1102 pedestrians. Nearly one-third (29.8%) of all pedestrians performed a distracting activity while crossing. Distractions included listening to music (11.2%), text messaging (7.3%) and using a handheld phone (6.2%). Text messaging, mobile phone use and talking with a companion increased crossing time. Texting pedestrians took 1.87 additional seconds (18.0%) to cross the average intersection (3.4 lanes), compared to undistracted pedestrians. Texting pedestrians were 3.9 times more likely than undistracted pedestrians to display at least 1 unsafe crossing behaviour (disobeying the lights, crossing mid-intersection, or failing to look both ways). Pedestrians listening to music walked more than half a second (0.54) faster across the average intersection than undistracted pedestrians.
        Conclusions:
        • Distracting activity is common among pedestrians, even while crossing intersections. Technological and social distractions increase crossing times, with text messaging associated with the highest risk. Our findings suggest the need for intervention studies to reduce risk of pedestrian injury.