Don't Let Your Playlist Get You Killed

Accidents involving headphone-wearing pedestrians being struck by automobiles have increased dramatically in recent years.

2012-02-29

February 29, 2012 (Press-News.org) A recent survey headed by Maryland pediatric emergency physician Dr. Richard Lichenstein and published in the medical industry journal Injury Prevention shows a sharp uptick in the number of deaths of pedestrians wearing headphones being struck by vehicles. Some of the fatal injuries involved pedestrians even being struck by trains that -- witnesses reported -- had blown their whistles and tried to avoid the accident by warning the pedestrian.

Details of the Study's Methodology

The research team combed reports issued to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, Internet news sources, the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System and Westlaw Campus Research. Between the years 2004 and 2011, they discovered 116 cases of injuries -- 81 of them fatal -- involving pedestrians who were wearing headphones at the time of their serious personal injury. The study focused solely on those pedestrians who were not using a handheld mobile phone connected by headphones.

The Results

The authors of the research report posited two theories as to why the number of headphone-wearing pedestrian deaths has been sharply increasing in the past seven years.

The first is basic "sensory deprivation;" some of the accidents likely resulted when the pedestrian whose hearing is blocked by the headphones simply cannot hear horn honks or other warning signals.

The second is what they term "inattentional blindness." They describe this phenomenon as a form of distraction; our brains hone in so closely on the music, video game or messaging that background sights, smells and sounds begin to blur. In spite of their theories, though, the study's authors admit that there isn't a definite causal link between pedestrian injuries and the wearing of headphones.

Regardless of whether headphones were involved or not, if you or a loved one has been struck by a vehicle and injured, speak with a skilled personal injury attorney in your area to learn more about your legal rights and options.

Article provided by Schonberg Law Offices of the Hudson Valley, P.C.
Visit us at www.schonberglaw.com

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