WE’VE all done it. You’re walking along reading a text or an email, Facebook or Twitter, and you bump into someone, or trip over something, or put your foot in a puddle about three inches deep with ballet pumps on - what, just me that one?
If you’ve ever witnessed someone walking into something, or someone while they’re doing this, it really does look funny! But what if they were doing that while crossing a road?
You wouldn’t read a book while crossing a road, or write a letter to someone, so why on earth do so many of us do this? That’s right, I’m guilty too!
Add in to the mix wearing headphones (not guilty on this front your honour - only on the grounds I’m too likely to start singing out loud, or dancing alone in a public place) and you are literally a walking disaster - that’s two senses completely out of the picture!
In America 53% of adult mobile phone users have been involved in a ‘distracted walking’ encounter and 70% of 18-24-year-olds have been bumped into by someone who was using their phone while walking. More shockingly, between 2004 and 2011, 116 pedestrians were killed or seriously injured in the States due to wearing headphones.
In fact, in Fort Lee, New Jersey, people can actually receive on-the-spot fines for ‘jaywalking while using a cell’ - or phone as we like to call them.
An article in the Daily Mail (please don’t judge me, it was a brief encounter online) recently talked about a scientific study in Australia, that looked at the way your walk changes significantly when using your phone. It affects your walking gait, speed, balance and sense of direction - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2544044/Texting-walking-affects-balance-risks-injury-warn-scientists.html.
From this moment forward I will attempt to either stand still with my phone, or just leave it in my bag, as I must look ridiculous - not to mention putting my life and others at risk!
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