NEWS

Don't walk while distracted!

Heads up! About 1,152 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms in the US last year for injuries suffered while walking and using an electronic device at the same time.

Though it isn't as widely reported as distracted driving, it can be as dangerous. How often do you see people strolling while talking on phones or texting, heads down?

Reports of injuries to distracted walkers treated at hospital emergency rooms have more than quadrupled in the past seven years and are almost certainly underreported.

A security camera in Philadelphia recently captured an incident involving a young man talking on a cell phone meandering along the edge of a train platform at night. Suddenly he stumbles, loses his balance and pitches over the side, landing headfirst on the tracks. Fortunately there were no trains approaching the station at that moment.

Philadelphia officials are drafting a safety campaign that will be aimed in part at pedestrians who are looking at their devices instead of where they're going.

For the whole story (Associated Press), click here.

07/31/12

[Photo: flickr.com/Ken Banks-kiwanja.net]

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Sensory deprivation?

Submitted by Stephany Tlalka on Wed, 08/08/2012 - 15:13.

I don't have a smart phone, but I borrowed a colleague's phone to check something the other week. As I walked back into my office with the phone, I looked up and realized I was not in my office but the one next door. I just walked in automatically thinking I was in the right place. My senses were a bit out of whack, even though I thought I had things under control.