Personal injury risk is greater if you're a 'podestrian'
Published: 05:03PM BST 23 Aug 2010
What about the personal injury risks when using technology as a pedestrian, though?
In your average high street more and more people are walking along plugged into iPods or MP3 players, while almost everyone now has a mobile phone. As phones boast ever more elaborate applications, so people become more engrossed when using them on the move.
How often do you now have to dodge someone coming the other way completely oblivious to you because they're texting and listening to music at the same time; or have to brake while driving because someone steps into the road?
Psychologists use the terms 'inattentional blindness' or 'divided attention', but a new phrase has been coined for such people: 'podestrians' – people who walk everywhere with music playing in their ears and often using mobile phones or other devices at the same time. It's also applied to cyclists who ride wearing headphones.
Concerns have been raised in Australia, where it's a growing problem. In Victoria, a 45-year-old cyclist using an iPod rode into the path of an oncoming tram and was run over when he failed to hear it. He escaped with minor injuries, but others may not be so lucky.
UK insurance companies report an increase in road traffic accidents where 'podestrians' have caused minor accidents after walking into the path of oncoming vehicles having failed to check properly before crossing roads, and being oblivious to oncoming traffic. They were listening to music, sending text messages or chatting on mobile phones.
Where 'podestrians' escape being hit, there have been many cases where vehicles having to perform an emergency stop have been hit from behind by other vehicles.
The Government's Think! campaign sets out guidelines aimed at pedestrians, particularly children aged 11 to 16, who are more at risk of being seriously injured or killed as a pedestrian or cyclist than any other age group. Statistics show that traffic is the biggest cause of accidental death for 12 to 16-year-olds in the UK.
In 2008, there were 572 pedestrians killed and 27,910 injured, with almost 1-in-5 teenagers having been involved in a road traffic collision or near miss on their way home from school or college. Worryingly, only 4% said road safety was their main concern.
In 2007, 1,844 12 to 16-year-olds were killed or seriously injured as pedestrians, cyclists or car occupants.
Alarming figures, but perhaps not surprising given our increasingly hi-tech world and, whatever your age, iPods and mobile phones are clearly dangerous distractions.
Despite all the technology at our disposal there's no match for our own senses when it comes to being aware of our surroundings and crossing the road safety – there isn't an app for that.
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