It has quadrupled in 7 years, and the number of accidents caused by distracted pedestrians has increased

It has quadrupled in 7 years, and the number of accidents caused by distracted pedestrians has increased. In urban streets, suburban parking lots, and shopping malls, it is common for pedestrians to talk on their mobile phones, lower their heads to send text messages, and listen to music...

In urban streets, suburban parking lots, and shopping malls, it is common for pedestrians to talk on their mobile phones, lower their heads to send text messages, listen to music, or play computer games while walking. Government officials and safety experts say that distracted walking is a growing problem, and the number of distracted pedestrians sent to hospital emergency rooms for treatment has more than quadrupled in the past seven years. The number of pedestrians killed or injured in traffic accidents has increased significantly, but there is no reliable data showing how many people have been injured due to distraction with electronic devices.

Distracted walking isn’t discussed as much as distracted driving, but distracted walking does pose dangers, and state and local officials are trying to figure out how to deal with it and where the limits of government power are to protect people from self-harm. In Delaware, highway safety officials are pushing a public education campaign to place stickers on crosswalks and sidewalks at high-traffic intersections urging pedestrians to "look up, drivers often don't pay attention to you." Philadelphia officials are drafting a safety campaign aimed in part at pedestrians, in which one of the messages will be "look up."

The Rapid Transit Authority of Salt Lake City, Utah, adopted a regulation that prohibits pedestrians from using mobile phones, headphones, or other distracting electronic devices when crossing light rail lines on the street. Violators will be fined $50. However, state legislators refused to pass a bill banning distracted walking to become state law, saying that the government should not issue tickets to pedestrians who use mobile phones reasonably. Statehouses in Arkansas, Illinois and New York have also failed to pass similar bills.

A study by the University of Maryland found that in the past six years, there were 116 cases of pedestrians wearing headphones being killed or seriously injured in accidents. Two-thirds of the victims were men under the age of 30; half of the cases involved trains; and in one-third of the accidents, a warning horn sounded before the accident. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says 1,152 people were sent to hospital emergency rooms last year for injuries caused by walking while using cell phones or other electronic devices.