Listening to music while walking can be deadly, especially for young men, USA Today reports. A new study shows that over the past six years, as iPods and other audio players have become increasingly popular, the number of headphone-wearing pedestrians killed or seriously injured by vehicles has tripled. Of 116 victims, two out of three were males under the age of 30. Half were hit by trains, and in 29 percent of cases, they had ignored warning horns or sirens before being struck.
“Everybody is aware of the risk of cellphones and texting in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest devices and headphones in their ears’’ while on foot, says pediatrician Richard Lichenstein of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Loud music doesn’t just drown out indications of danger; it also increases “inattentional blindness,” a zoning-out that causes people to overlook obvious visual cues.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The week's best photosIn Pictures A tomato fight, painting behind bars, and more
-
Mountainhead: Jesse Armstrong's tech bro satire sparkles with 'weapons-grade zingers'The Week Recommends The Succession creator's first feature film lacks the hit TV show's 'dramatic richness' – but makes for a horribly gripping watch
-
Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists – a 'riveting' exhibitionThe Week Recommends Pallant House exhibition offers fascinating instances of painterly reciprocity
-
Is the world losing scientific innovation?Today's big question New research seems to be less exciting
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves babyspeed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
-
Humans heal much slower than other mammalsSpeed Read Slower healing may have been an evolutionary trade-off when we shed fur for sweat glands
-
Scientists map miles of wiring in mouse brainSpeed Read Researchers have created the 'largest and most detailed wiring diagram of a mammalian brain to date,' said Nature
-
Scientists genetically revive extinct 'dire wolves'Speed Read A 'de-extinction' company has revived the species made popular by HBO's 'Game of Thrones'
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human bloodUnder the radar Drugging the bugs
-
Have we reached 'peak cognition'?The Explainer Evidence mounts that our ability to reason, concentrate and problem-solve is in decline
-
There is a 'third state' between life and deathUnder the radar Cells can develop new abilities after their source organism dies
