A new study found that texting while walking causes more injuries per mile than texting while driving.
Many studies have focused on the dangerous consequences of texting while driving. However, University at Buffalo researchers found that texting and walking can be far more dangerous as they cause more injuries per mile.
The consequences of texting include bumping into walls, falling down stairs, tripping over clutter or stepping into traffic, according to a press statement.
"When texting, you're not as in control with the complex actions of walking," Dietrich Jehle, professor of emergency medicine at the University at Buffalo, said in the statement. "While talking on the phone is a distraction, texting is much more dangerous because you can't see the path in front of you."
Researchers pointed out that even though injuries from texting and driving are more severe, physical harm resulting from texting and walking occurs more frequently. People who text and walk face three types of distractions. The first one is manual where they're doing something else, the second one is visual where they're seeing something else and the third one is cognitive where their mind is somewhere else.
The study also revealed that when people used their cell phones while walking, they went off course 61 percent more and overshot their target 13 percent more than when they were not distracted.
Thousands of pedestrians are treated in emergency rooms each year. According to authors of this study, approximately 10 percent of these pedestrians were in accidents that involved the use of a cell phone. The growing popularity of social networking hasn't helped this cause either. It is not uncommon these days to see a person walking on the street with his head down, scrolling through his Facebook or Twitter account on his phone.
Researchers also found that individuals who indulge in such activities are chiefly from the 16-30 age group. Though there are many laws written that discourage texting and walking, most of them are strongly voted down.
This is not the first study that highlights the dangers of texting and walking. A similar study conducted by University of Queensland researchers found that texting while walking changes a person's gait and such distraction in traffic places, train tracks and subways can be potentially dangerous.
"Texting, and to a lesser extent reading, on your mobile phone affects your ability to walk and balance," said Siobhan M. Schabrun, an honorary senior fellow at the University of Queensland and the lead author of the study, CNN reports. "This may impact the safety of people who text and walk at the same time."
