Cycling & bikes - No More Texting While Cycling

On Jan 22, 9:04*pm, Bret Cahill wrote:
http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2...nter_Health_Ca...

Yes - we also call them ipod zombies.
QUOTE:

Walking with your head in the clouds can be dangerous – but not as
perilous as listening to your iPod. The number of people suffering
serious injury or death while wearing headphones for electrical
devices such as MP3 players has tripled in six years, according to a
US study.

An increase in the use of headphones while walking in the street has
led to a dramatic rise in the number of injuries, with teenagers, men
and young adults the most at risk from hurting themselves while their
thoughts were elsewhere, the study says.

In compiling the study, experts studied data from 2004 to 2011. They
found that 116 people in the US wearing headphones had died or been
seriously hurt during that period. The number of people who died or
were injured leapt from 16 in 2004-05 to 47 in 2010-11.

Most victims were men (68%) and under the age of 30 (67%), with about
one in 10 of all cases under the age of 18.

Of the accidents studied, 89% occurred in urban areas, and more than
half of the victims – 55% – were struck by trains.

According to the study, published online in the journal Injury
Prevention, 81 of the 116 incidents, or 70%, resulted in death.

The study – which did not extend to cases involving mobile phones,
including hands-free sets – found that the wearing of headphones may
in many cases have played a direct part in the incident, as the users
could not hear warnings that they were in danger. In 29% of the cases,
an explicit warning – such as a shout, a horn or a siren – had been
sounded before the accident.

The experts concluded: "The use of headphones with handheld devices
may pose a safety risk to pedestrians, especially in environments with
moving vehicles. Further research is needed to determine if and how
headphone use compromises pedestrian safety."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...?newsfeed=true

--
Simon Mason