As recent studies have suggested, texting while walking ties up the brain’s relatively limited attention resources, making it an extremely difficult task to execute. In some ways, walking while texting is more demanding than driving while texting. You are sitting while you drive, while walking requires a multitude of actions and reactions.
Researchers at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, monitored 26 healthy adults and sent them on a 28-foot stretch of hallway while cameras captured their steps. In one setup, the volunteers walked without a phone, in another, they read a long text on a phone’s screen, and in a third, they texted “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” The volunteers were told to hold the phone and type as they usually would. They were also asked to try to walk as normally as possible.
The study found that texting significantly distorted their ability to walk normally, whether they intended to contort themselves or not.
While texting and walking, the volunteers took much shorter steps and were walking slower in pace. They were also not able to walk in straight line.
With the drastic increase in pedestrian fatalities in NYC and the Hudson Valley, we remind everyone to please stay alert when crossing roads or busy streets and to never text while walking. From 2010 through 2012, there were 683 pedestrians killed in New York’s downstate counties. In the Hudson Valley, Westchester County accounted for 23 fatalities in this time period. Orange County accounted for 12, Rockland, 10, Putnam, 6 and Dutchess, 2. Already this year, Orange County has registered two pedestrian fatalities.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a pedestrian-related accident, we can help. Call us for a free consultation today.
Read more about this study from the New York Times.
Mr. Finkelstein is the Managing Partner of Finkelstein & Partners, LLP. He has become a noted consumer activist through his representation of injured individuals against corporate wrongdoers and irresponsible parties.
An accomplished litigator, Mr. Finkelstein has represented Plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury cases. He has successfully handled dozens of multi-million dollar cases.