Time is precious. Whether you’re a student, stay at home parent, full-time worker, or someone who is simultaneously running three startups, managing time is a struggle. With a busy schedule comes the desire to multitask. It’s no wonder you find yourself brushing your teeth while brushing your hair and somehow turning the knob of the shower all in an attempt to get the day rolling. Another common way you may be attempting to spare a couple of minutes of your already hectic day: checking your phone while walking.

There are numerous compilation videos online of accidents that happen to people who are a bit too busy to keep their eyes on the path. “Funny Phone Accidents – Texting While Walking Fail!” – that’s the title of one YouTube video that showcases an entire three minutes of men and women stumbling into water fountains at shopping malls, bumping into vans, hitting walls, missing a glass door, and the worst and certainly not the funniest are those victims who nearly get run down by moving vehicles. In this specific video, none of the pedestrians were harmed but it’s likely due to the fact that all the drivers slowed down as soon as they noticed the distracted pedestrian.

Even if you’re familiar with the path and you’ve walked it countless times, there are reasons to avoid distracted walking at all cost.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), roughly 5,000 pedestrians were killed in 2012 while an estimated 76,000 were injured in traffic collisions that same year. One interesting statistic that came out of a University of Alabama at Birmingham study was that distracted driving began to rise in 2010, three years after Apple released the first iPhone. Moreover, a 2012 study from New York’s Stony Brook University found that people who walked and texted were 60% more likely to veer off the path than non-texters.

In psychology, the term “inattentional blindness” describes the phenomenon where people are only able to focus on one thing at a time. One way of thinking about this concept a bit deeper is that as humans, we are programmed to focus on the important things, so we often miss the details of what’s around us, we fill in the blanks so to speak. We see this playing out firsthand in distracted walking. You may think you’re paying attention to the pathway and moving vehicles but since your attention is not truly on the path, but rather your phone. That’s why you may fail to notice a car turning into the normally empty parking lot you’re about to enter. With inattentional blindness, you miss a new movement because of your preset expectations. In this case, the normally empty parking lot.     

Being a responsible pedestrian, especially here in the Sun City where pedestrians are often treated as second-class citizens matters to your safety. Unfortunately, not all drivers will slow down or come to a stop before damage is done. They may be distracted as well!

The dangers of distracted walking often result in a variety of injuries, including:

-Broken bones

-Spinal cord injuries

-Cuts

-Fractures

-Sprains

-Brain injuries

-Fatality

Being hit by a moving vehicle can result in life-altering complications, especially if that vehicle happens to be a commercial truck. If fatal, the accident may be a wrongful death suit. Here at the Enriquez Law Firm, it is our goal to provide you and your family with the legal help needed to secure the compensation that reflects injuries and other damages. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can get to work on your case and provide you the peace of mind you need to move forward in life.

Please do not delay seeking help from an experienced pedestrian accident attorney today.      

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