Texting trouble: Study finds distracted walkers at higher risk of road injury

We perceive a batch astir the dangers of distracted driving, but what astir distracted walking?

New research from the University of British Columbia has confirmed what you mightiness already suspect: it’s risky.

The study, published precocious successful the diary Accident Analysis and Prevention, recovered that pedestrians who are texting oregon talking connected the telephone are little apt to beryllium alert of their surroundings, putting them astatine higher hazard of being deed by a car owed to straying disconnected marked crosswalks oregon failing to respond to oncoming traffic.

The researchers recovered distraction tin summation the severity of a conveyance enactment oregon adjacent miss by arsenic overmuch arsenic 45 per cent.

“Non-distracted pedestrians made safer choices erstwhile interacting with vehicles,” said pb researcher Tarek Sayed, a civilian engineering prof and proscription information expert.

“They maintained greater distances from vehicles, yielded much often to oncoming postulation and adjusted their velocity erstwhile necessary.”

To travel to their conclusions, researchers utilized a UBC-developed “computer imaginativeness system” and artificial quality simulation models to analyse video postulation information from a brace of engaged downtown Vancouver intersections.

They looked astatine undistracted pedestrians and those who were occupied by a device, whether talking connected the phone, listening to music, texting oregon speechmaking from a phone.

They compared those 2 groups against postulation conflicts and situations that could pb to a conflict, specified arsenic erstwhile vehicles and pedestrians were connected a collision course.

Along with the accrued hazard to pedestrians, researchers besides recovered drivers reacted otherwise to distracted pedestrians, often slowing down successful an evident effect to perchance unpredictable behaviours.

The researchers accidental the survey could beryllium utile to planners and policymakers looking to trim the imaginable for unsafe interactions betwixt vehicles and pedestrians.

“For example, we tin accommodate the hazard of distracted walking and plan safer infrastructure by adjusting crosswalk awesome cycles oregon introducing audio signals to fto pedestrians cognize erstwhile it is clip to cross,” survey co-author Tala Aslsharif said.

She added planners could besides station informing signage, oregon adjacent make mobile notifications that artifact pedestrians from utilizing their phones erstwhile crossing the street.