Study finds that number of pedestrians injured while wearing headphones has tripled. Should Britain follow the lead of US and Australia in tackling headphone ‘zombies’?
Headphones: a dangerous distraction for pedestrians?
Walking along the street while listening to music on headphones can block out some of the unwanted noises of modern life – the drone of road-drills, the screams of babies in prams and the prattle of people on street corners. However, headphone sounds can also block out noises we need to pay attention to – the sirens of police cars, the tinkle of a bicycle bell, the beep of a car horn telling us we are in danger…
Road safety association and breakdown cover company, GEM Motoring Assist, have consistently urged motorists to refrain from using distracting technology behind the wheel. Concentrating on the road ahead rather than lining up our favourite track helps protect the safety of the members it provides car breakdown cover to.
But is it now time for attention to be turned to pedestrians who compromise road-users’ safety by becoming distracted?
Recent research conducted in the US has examined how many vehicle crashes involved pedestrians using headphones. The findings, published on 16th January 2011 in the Injury Prevention online journal, reveal that the number of headphone-wearing pedestrians suffering injuries or deaths tripled between 2005 and 2011.
The number of deaths and injuries was 16 in 2004-05 and had rocketed to 47 from 2010 to 2011.
It is important to stress that 55 per cent of these victims were struck by trains; however the statistics illustrate how distracting listening to headphones near roads and traffic can be.
In 2010, research by the AA conducted in Britain found that inattention caused by pedestrians could be the cause of 17 collisions per day; a figure which led the organisation to blast “iPod pedestrian, cycle and driver zombies”.
The American approach
Many states in America have started to tackle the dangers of distracted pedestrians with actions rather than just words. State laws requesting that pedestrians and cyclists stay focussed in their environment, by refraining from texting and listening to music, are becoming increasingly common.
John Kuhl of the National Conference of State Leglislators, told BBC News in 2011: “This year alone, five states have introduces some type of legislation on this.”
Australia and ‘iPod oblivion’
Australia – the first country in the world to introduce seat-belt legislation – has also taken a pro-active stance to tackle the rise of a trend they refer to as ‘iPod oblivion’. Television advertising campaigns Down Under have featured images of headphone-wearing people lying on the pavement with outlines chalked around their body; as if drawn by the police at a murder scene. The fact that these pictures have been posed by models does not detract from their hard-hitting impact.
The UK and headphones
In-car technology could provide an answer to the problem of pedestrians who forget their green cross code because they are listening to music. Car manufacturers are developing in-car cameras which identify if a pedestrian is too close to a car and halt the vehicle accordingly.
But can the UK afford to wait for technology to provide an answer before tackling the problems of distraction found on pavements? And how difficult would it be to enforce laws restricting the application of headphone’s main purpose – enabling people to listen to music-on-the-move.
On-foot UK headphone-wearers might feel it is hypercritical to ask them to pack away their listening devices when drivers still enjoy the freedom to use headphones behind the driving wheel.
Rule 148 of the Highway Code merely advises drivers to avoid distractions including “loud music (this may mask other sounds)”.
Such laxity is in contrast to many US states which only allow drivers to have an earphone in one ear while motoring from A to B.
Brightly-coloured clown
Headphone-loving pedestrians could also argue that mobile phone usage is more of a distraction than listening to music. Research conducted by Western Washington University backs up this claim. This study asked mobile phone users if they had noticed a brightly-coloured clown riding around on a unicycle while they were walking along.
Remarkably, 75 per cent said they hadn’t.
