Distracted Walking Puts 1,500 People Into the Hospital a Year

Of all the senseless ways to end up in the emergency room, getting injured because you're walking while using your cell phone has to be up near the top. Yet at least 1,500 Americans told that embarrassing story in 2010, according to research being published next month in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention. Data from hospitals across the country show that figure has climbed steadily since 2005:

Just as behavioral scientists have found time and again that drivers are distracted by their mobile phones, so too have they found that pedestrians have a tough time walking and talking at once. In one experiment from a few years back, pedestrians talking on their phones recalled less of their surroundings than did regular walkers. In another test, researchers confirmed this "inattentional blindness" when they found that, compared to typical pedestrians, people talking and walking were less likely to notice even something as ridiculous as a clown on a unicycle.