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Emergency Room Visits From Distracted Walking Skyrocket (cbsnews.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the pay-attention dept.

schwit1 writes: An estimated ten percent of pedestrian injuries that land people in emergency rooms are due to distracted walking, a recent study found. That's thousands of people injured — sometimes killed. In San Diego, investigators believe Joshua Burwell may have been trying to take a picture of the sunset when he took a fatal fall some 40 feet off Sunset Cliffs. "A lot of people don't admit that they do it," said Dr. Claudette Lajam, an orthopedic surgeon. "It's getting worse as we have more and more features on these devices that we carry around with us that can distract us."

7 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Personally by liqu1d · · Score: 4, Informative

    I wish they'd take a step back and let natural selection take its course.

  2. Dangerous Habits by sbrown7792 · · Score: 4, Funny

    At least reading Slashdot isn't dange^^&*((_-/... NO CARRIER

  3. I have a plan... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Since most of these distractions are probably smartphone related, and contemporary smartphones tend to have pretty substantial activity-logging capabilities and sensor packages, it would be technically feasible to get an 'aircraft blackbox' style snapshot of what was going on at the time of the injury.

    Anyone know if you could get away with an insurance policy that demands such data, in the event of a claim, and then attempts to deny coverage for any costs deemed to have been incurred because of negligent distraction? Just think of how many claims you could deny with the right data...

    1. Re:I have a plan... by vikingpower · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sounds like a typically American plan.

      --
      Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
  4. Ugh by Jethro · · Score: 5, Funny

    I might just be tired, but it took me forever to figure out what a walking skyrocket is.

    --


    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
  5. Samurai Smartphone Parade by 12WTF$ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Lovely Japanese take on the curse of distracted walking:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    Bump: 66% of people have run into others when using a smartphone while walking.
    Fall: 3.6 % of people have fallen from a platform when texting while walking.
    Trip: 18% of people have tripped when using a smartphone while walking.
    99% of people think using a smartphone while walking is dangerous.
    73% of people have used a smartphone while walking.
    Please look forward when you are walking.
    Using a smartphone while walking is dangerous.

    --
    Cryonics - Keep cool and carry on.
  6. Re:Devices need a collision avoidance app by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Screw technology, let people maim or kill themselves.

    That's fine when it's only them who get affected. Frequently it's not them we give a shit about, but the others that they injury either physically or psychologically in the process. A close friend of mine ran into someone who was distracted with his phone who stepped on to the cycling lane without looking. The guy started abusing my friend because his phone was knocked out of his hand and broken. But my friend didn't care because he was too busy being unconscious on the ground.

    Similarly a friend of the family was a truck driver. Emphasis on the was part. He ran over and killed a young cyclist who was off with the fairies headphones blasting rock music and all and clearly didn't see a the red light. He can no longer drive. He's psychologically messed up even though the very short investigation concluded he was 0% at fault.

    I'm all for Darwin awards but karma can sometimes be a slow and unfair bastard affecting innocent bystanders.