It’s not just drivers that suffer from the distraction of their mobile devices. According to a new study the amount of accidents involving headphone wearing pedestrians has more than tripled in the past six years.
The recent increase in distracted pedestrians wearing headphones may have been attributed to the popularity of Apple’s Ipod, and similar devices. Introduced in the fall of 2001, The Ipod didn’t really gain in popularity and acceptance by the early majority until 2005, after the release of newer models, enhanced software and an improved music store.
One study performed by the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center focused on accidents involving headphone wearing pedestrians. Out of 116 accidents were reviewed involving musically distracted pedestrians between 2004 and 2011. About 75% of these accidents resulted in fatal injuries. Nearly a third of the drivers in the accidents reported sounding a warning horn before the crash happened. But, two likely causes, distraction and sensory deprivation, prevented them from hearing and heading the warning horn. The headphones and the audio device distracts the pedestrian and causes “inattention blindness.”-The failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task, event, or object. This is the same type of blindness attributed to distracted driving. Add sensory deprivation to the mix and the ability for the victims to hear the warning sound became masked by the sounds from their devices.
Half of the crashes report in the University of Maryland study involved trains. Which means they could have been preventable if the pedestrian had been more aware of his or her surroundings. Trains travel at an increased rate of speed, making abrupt stopping more difficult. Thus, there is a need for extra vigilant pedestrians.
As drivers, we’re asked to stay alert, and not let our hand held devices distracted us for even a few seconds, as those few seconds could be mean the difference between life and death. As pedestrians, we face similar risks. Traffic laws do always give pedestrians the right of way, but that does not mean that they do not have a duty to look out for their own safety. When crossing streets, you do need to be defensive and always watch out for oncoming traffic. When we choose to wear headphones and listen to music as pedestrians we insulate ourselves from the environment, cannot hear what is going on and reduce the likelihood that we will be aware of potential dangers.
We can assume when we are pedestrians that drivers see us, or even that they are paying attention to us. As pedestrians, we ask drivers to yield and pay attention to us,but we must also pay attention ourselves and to the traffic around us. Walking with headphones in traffic is not a good idea.
