Texting and walking - don't do it

The BMJ have completed a study I have been looking forward to for along time. "Impact of social and technological distraction on pedestrian crossing behaviour: an observational study." And the results were just what I wanted them to be. From the abstract:

Results Observers recorded crossing behaviours for 1102 pedestrians. Nearly one-third (29.8%) of all pedestrians performed a distracting activity while crossing. Distractions included listening to music (11.2%), text messaging (7.3%) and using a handheld phone (6.2%). Text messaging, mobile phone use and talking with a companion increased crossing time. Texting pedestrians took 1.87 additional seconds (18.0%) to cross the average intersection (3.4 lanes), compared to undistracted pedestrians. Texting pedestrians were 3.9 times more likely than undistracted pedestrians to display at least 1 unsafe crossing behaviour (disobeying the lights, crossing mid-intersection, or failing to look both ways). Pedestrians listening to music walked more than half a second (0.54) faster across the average intersection than undistracted pedestrians.

So yeah, if you're going to be walking around with your phone out at least don't look at it while you cross the street! "Walk with purpose" is one of my favorite sayings.

Source, Via