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What Clown On a Unicycle?
R3d M3rcury writes "The New York Times has an article about walking and using a cellphone. 'The era of the mobile gadget is making mobility that much more perilous, particularly on crowded streets and in downtown areas where multiple multitaskers veer and swerve and walk to the beat of their own devices.' But the interesting part was an experiment run by Western Washington University this past fall. There was a student who knew how to ride a unicycle and a professor who had a clown suit. They dressed a student up as a clown and had him ride his unicycle around a popular campus square. Then they asked people, 'Did you see the Unicycling Clown?' 71% of the people walking in pairs said that they had. 51% of the people walking alone said that they had. But only 25% of the people talking on a cellphone said that they saw the unicycling clown. On the other hand, when asked 'Did you see anything unusual?' only about one person in three mentioned a unicycling clown. So maybe unicycling clowns aren't enough of a distraction at Western Washington University..."
There is no question that one is less aware of its surroundings when using a cell phone. The real question is to see whether this lower perception is acually any danger for pedestrians. I have the feeling that when walking and using a cellphone, I am less aware of my distant environment but still keep a keen picture of everything that could hit me directly.
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
28 y.o. Toronto woman was killed by a 5 tonne delivery truck. She was on her phone and walked under the rear wheels of a truck, that was making a left turn. The driver could not have possibly seen her because of the truck length and the fact that he was making a left turn. She walked under the rear wheels herself because apparently she was unable to evaluate the situation around herself while on her cell phone.
Darwin award, obviously, but it shows a case where a pedestrian was a hazard (this time to herself) because she was so distracted.
You can't handle the truth.
It maybe rare for cars to leave the road, but it's very common for pedestrians to enter the road, especially when distracted.
How can you possibly know if you are willfully ignoring all of them?
There is at least a chance that you are ignoring some of them by accident.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I attended WWU for some time and can easily say that unicycling clowns are not on the wide end of bizarre for Bellingham, regardless of what Professor Hyman might think.
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
I think you're missing the point here. When people walk in the city, they voluntarily enter the road frequently. It's not about "oh whoops, I entered the street without knowing it hurr durr". It's about "Ok, crossing the street.. oohhh someone replied to me on facebook!"
As you suggested: I suspect that if the question was "did you see the unicycling clown?", people together will be less willing to admit they didn't see it. People alone have less incentive to try and impress someone. And people on their phones just weren't paying attention.