Perhaps the one ubiquitous accessory you can find on both men and women walking the streets of Manhattan is the white iPhone/iPod earbuds. Everyone from hipsters to businessmen are listening to music or podcasts while walking to wherever they go.
However, pedestrians may want to consider bucking this trend and removing their earbuds and headphones while walking. This is especially the case given a new University of Maryland study that found a much higher rate of pedestrian headphone injuries and accidents, compared to the number of accidents involving pedestrians not wearing headphones, reports Fox News.
According to the study, pedestrians walking around with headphones were three times more likely to be involved in a pedestrian-car accident. Additionally, 70 percent of these accidents turned out to be fatal, reports Fox News.
Most of the injuries happened to pedestrians under the age of 30, and a researcher branded the effect of walking and listening to music “inattentional blindness,” as the pedestrian is so distracted by stimuli that he or she fails to see an oncoming car or other road hazard.
To make matters worse, those injured in a pedestrian-car accident may not be able to sue for damages. Pedestrians who cause accidents, or were equally careless in causing accidents, are unlikely to prevail in lawsuits and probably won’t be able to collect damages.
Pedestrian headphone injuries are on the rise. However, this may not be a case for a New York City products liability lawyer as distracted people are seemingly causing injuries as opposed to defective products.
Related Resources:
- Find a New York City Car Lawyer (FindLaw)
- Serious Injuries To Pedestrians Wearing Headphones More Than Tripled In Six Years, US Study (Medical News Today)
- Car Accident Liability (FindLaw)
- New York Crosswalk Accidents: Car and Pedestrian Accidents (FindLaw’s New York Personal Injury Law Blog)
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