Distracted walking.
There’s been plenty of information published in recent years about distracted driving and the dangers it poses. There have been fewer reports about the dangers of texting and walking, though there have been plenty of Internet videos that show the sometimes comical consequences of doing both at the same time. Sadly, not all of these incidents turn out to be comical enough to merit sharing. Some of them, in fact, turn out deadly.
It’s not only texting that causes problems for pedestrians. According to an article in the LA Times, the University of Maryland found that there were 116 cases involving pedestrians being killed or injured while they were using headphones. Not too surprisingly, a full two thirds of those incidents involved men under the age of 30, a demographic more likely than their older peers to be wearing headphones while they are walking around town.
Hit by a driver.
Being struck by a driver while walking out onto a roadway is one of the more common accidents that people who are walking around with headphones on or who are texting while walking oftentimes end up getting into. Even though someone walking with an electronic device may have been distracted, that doesn’t change the fact that pedestrians do have the right away in some areas. If you were crossing a street in an area where you had every right to expect traffic to yield to you and someone did not, you may want to consider speaking with an attorney about the matter.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that pedestrian fatalities rose 4.2 percent from 2010 to 2011. Whether or not you were distracted at the time, if you were struck by a driver who wasn’t paying attention, you should speak with an attorney. You’ll want to speak with an auto-pedestrian accident lawyer to make certain that they will have a firm grasp on the circumstances. There are some areas of the city, for instance, where pedestrians are expected to be out and about and walking on the streets and, if drivers don’t pay attention to them and strike them, those drivers may be held negligent in court.