NSC Report Highlights the Threat of Distracted Walking

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The perils of checking your phone behind the wheel are well-documented, but a new report from NSC suggests that trying to walk and talk (or text) is asking for trouble as well.

The recent NSC report InjuryFacts says that the use of cellphones has increased eightfold since 2000, and more people are getting distracted and getting hurt. Using a phone as a pedestrian reduces situational awareness and actively distracts users.

The report analyzes emergency department data from 2000 to 2011. More than half of cellphone distracted walking injuries happened at home, and 68% of patients were female. Individuals 40 years old or younger were 54% of cases.

“This is impacting all age groups, not just the heavy users you’d expect” says Ken Kolosh, manager of statistics at NSC.

Common injuries included dislocation, fracture, sprains or strains. Surprisingly, talking beat texting as the most prevalent activity at the time of injury, at 62% and 12%, respectively.