According to researchers at University of Maryland, serious injuries
to pedestrians wearing headphones have more than tripled in the past 6 years.
Often pedestrians wearing headphones cannot hear environmental cues such as car
or train horns, which leads to fatalities almost three-quarters of the time,
the researchers conclude. Published in Injury
Prevention online, the
study reviewed 116 cases from 2004 to 2011 in which injured pedestrians
were wearing headphones. In 70% of those cases, the pedestrian was killed.
“Everybody is aware of the risk of cell phones and texting
in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest
devices and headphones in their ears,” says lead author Richard Lichenstein,
M.D. “Unfortunately as we make more and more enticing devices, the risk of
injury from distraction and blocking out other sounds increases.”