Do you text while you walk? It could land you in the emergency room!
UPI is reporting on research done at Ohio State University, showing that distracted walking—such as texting while walking on a street—results in more injuries per mile than distracted driving.
The researchers found that the number of ER visits for injuries related to using a cell phone while walking have tripled in the past ten years.
Dr. Dietrich Jehle, a professor of emergency medicine at the University at Buffalo, says tens of thousands of pedestrians are treated in emergency rooms across the nation each year. As many as ten percent of those visits result from accidents involving cellphones.
The consequences of texting while walking include bumping into walls, falling down stairs, tripping over clutter or stepping into traffic.
Dr. Jehle says, “When texting you’re not as in control with the complex actions of walking. While talking on the phone is a distraction, texting is much more dangerous because you can’t see the path in front of you.”
Although injuries from car accidents involving texting are often more severe, physical harm resulting from texting and walking occurs more often.
According to Dr. Jehle, the number of injuries involving texting and walking is likely higher than official statistics suggest. That’s because patients tend to under report information about themselves when it’s embarrassing.
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