Walking in the street with headphones on is high risk …
An American study has just shown that the number of serious accidents among pedestrians who listen to their mp3 with earphones or headphones has tripled in 6 years. Another observation: the victims are young: two thirds were under 30 years old.
Admittedly, the study was conducted in the United States, but we can assume that the problem is identical in France, even if there are no figures on this type of accident. One thing is certain: in 2010 out of 100 pedestrians killed, more than 9% were between 18 and 24 years old and more than 15% were between 25 and 44 years old. But the road safety authorities, which provided this data, do not specify whether they were listening to their mp3.
While 9 out of 10 accidents occur in town, the countryside is not spared! The shock remains formidable: 70% of collisions were fatal. And what is surprising is that more than half of the victims were struck by trains. The question is how the pedestrian could not hear the honking or the whistling of the trains. The answer of the authors of this study is clear: Listening to music, in addition to the extra noise it creates, would somehow blind: the brain could not at the same time listen to music, look around him and especially understand the environment.
This is reminiscent of other similar situations, such as making a phone call while driving. Even with the hands-free kit, a study has shown that a motorist’s attention drops by more than a third during a telephone conversation! A vast debate !!!
Reference
Headphone use and pedestrian injury and death in the United States: 2004-2011
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