According to recent analysis published in the journal Injury Prevention, texting while walking is a safety risk for pedestrians. This is not shocking news for most of us who have watched someone text and walk or have had a texting mishap ourselves. In fact, some cities have banned texting while walking and impose fines on violators, while others have taking more accepting measures such as padding lampposts and putting traffic signals in the ground so they will be in the line-of-sight of texters. Oregon has yet to ban smartphone zombies, it can boast some of the toughest distracted driving laws in the country. If you have been injured as a pedestrian, talk to an experienced Oregon pedestrian injury attorney today.
Dangerous Pedestrian Behavior
Distracted pedestrians pose a danger to themselves and others causing collisions with vehicles and with other pedestrians. Researchers pooled data from 14 studies as well as reviewing data from eight more, to get an idea of just how device us affected pedestrian safety.
They looked at activities including texting, browsing, talking on the phone and listening to music and how those activities affected:
- Time taken to start walking or begin crossing the road
- Time taken to cross the road
- Missed opportunities to cross safely
- Looking left and right before or during crossing
- Collisions and close calls with other pedestrians and vehicles
Texting was found to be the most dangerous with lower rate of looking left or right, increased rate of collisions and close calls, an increase in missed opportunities to cross safely and taking longer to cross.
Listening to music was not linked to any dangerous pedestrian behaviors. Talking on the phone slightly increased missed opportunities to cross safely and the amount of time taken to cross.
Although smart phone zombies are most likely to hurt themselves by running into stationary objects, trip and fall and other accidents, they can cause serious injuries to other pedestrians and cause traffic accidents. When a pedestrian suddenly enters traffic, it can result in more than the pedestrian getting hit. Drivers may respond by braking suddenly or taking evasive maneuvers that cause them to hit other vehicles or other pedestrians.
If a distracted driver or a distracted pedestrian caused your Oregon accident, call the Law Office of J. Clay McCaslin at 503-239-1910 or contact us online today.