Last updated April 12, 2019
Drivers using new or old cell phones are not only putting themselves at risk, it is pedestrians as well, experts are warning. Jack Nasar, an Ohio State University professor of city and regional planning, says that people who use their cell phones while walking are placing themselves in potential danger and do not even know it.
“For pedestrians, it’s an intense problem,” Nasar claims. “Cell phone use leads to distracted attention and can lead to accidents.” People who become distracted whilst walking can end up being injured because they are paying too much attention to the cell phone and not enough to what is actually going on around them.
Garrett Moore, the director of safety and security for Dennison University, agrees. “It’s not just on college campuses, it’s anywhere people are using technology,” he says. “I can’t count how many times we have folks fall and twist an ankle or trip because they were doing something other than walking.”
Nasar alleges that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has shown that the amount of accidents that relate to the use of cell phones and their accessories is actually going up, and has carried out a number of studies on the way in which people’s awareness of their immediate environment is affected by cell phones. “We found that people talking on phones were more likely to walk into oncoming traffic,” he states. “Even though people think “Oh I can (walk and talk)”, you really can’t.”