Dangerous Moves
Walking while listening to an iPod or other MP3 player can be dangerous, a new study shows.
After analyzing records of pedestrian injuries and deaths between 2004 and 2011, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine say 116 pedestrians had been hit by a car while wearing headphones. Eighty-one died. And the yearly death rate tripled from from 16 in 2004-05 to 47 in 2010-11. Nearly 90% of the accidents took place in urban areas; more than two-thirds of those injured or killed were men under the age of 30.
Researchers suggest that wearing headphones endangers pedestrians two ways: by distracting them because they are listening to and operating the device rather than paying attention to their surroundings and by preventing them from hearing the honking horns of approaching cars or trains.
Posted by: Georgie
Source:Injury Prevention
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