A latest study says that texting while walking changes a person's gait and such distraction in traffic places, train tracks, subways can be potentially dangerous.
The risks of texting while driving have widely been reported in several studies and media publications. Distracted driving has been made illegal in most U.S. states with 12 states against the use of cell phones while driving. Forty one states have banned texting and 37 states can rightfully pull over novice drivers for using a cell phone while driving. The hazards of texting while driving are common knowledge, but a new study from the University of Queensland has found that texting while walking can be potentially dangerous too.
The researchers involved in the study found that a person texting or reading a message while walking is more likely to bump in to others, get injured or walk in front of a car or onto train tracks. A person texting while walking cannot walk in a straight line and the focus on texting changes a person's gait, the study found.
"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."
The study is the first to compare the impact of texting and reading a message while walking. Researchers studied the movements of 26 healthy men without any history of neurological or musculoskeletal disorders affecting gait. The participants were asked to walk up to 28 feet while doing three exercises- walk without a phone, walk while reading a text on a mobile phone and walk while texting. In all three behaviors, researchers found that texting while walking had the biggest impact in gait performance, where a participant did not walk in a straight line, slowed down and a lost balance.
YouTube has several videos of people getting into accidents texting while walking.
The Australian study also pointed out that listening to music on headphones results in people ignoring to look both sides while crossing an intersection. This can be dangerous. According to a recent Ohio State University study, the number of injuries from texting while walking has more than doubled since 2005.