It sounds like the stuff of bad dreams: You're walking along in a deserted train station late at night, stumble and end up sprawled on the tracks. You're trekking along a pier and fall into the water. You're window shopping at a mall and tumble into a large fountain.
Those are all recent real situations that happened to people engrossed by verbal or text conversations on their cellphones.
And these accidents are happening more frequently than ever as more people become attached to their smartphones to keep in constant contact with their friends, relatives through their latest status updates, texts, music downloads, high game scores and tweets.
Not as well-known or analyzed as distracted driving, distracted walking is a dangerous phenomenon that also needs to be addressed. Just because a person is on foot and not behind the wheel of a car, there still lives a real danger for accidents and injuries.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 1,100 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms in the U.S. last year for injuries suffered while walking and using a cellphone or some other electronic device.
That number of injuries has more than quadrupled in the past seven years, and those figures do not include the many unreported incidents -- perhaps because the information was not included by hospital officials in their records or the patients were too embarrassed or forgot to mention they were distracted in the circumstances leading to their injury.
Look at just about any street, parking lot, shopping center or college campus, you'll see examples of people zoned out of their surroundings while using their phones.
State and local officials seek ways to respond to distracted walking, but have struggled. Unlike distracted driving, which police patrols can ticket and have laws in place to prosecute, finding ways to protect people from their own bad habits is a bit more elusive.
According to a report by The Associated Press, Delaware state safety officials have started a publication campaign, placing decals on crosswalks and sidewalks at busy intersections urging pedestrians to "Look up. Drivers aren't always looking out for you."
The issue really comes down to a matter of common sense. When you're crossing the street, near railroad crossings, skirting waterways and other potential dangers, take a few seconds away from your phones to look up, see where you are and address your surroundings. In most cases, your conversations, music, games and other electronic distractions can wait until you know you're a safe distance from potential nightmare scenarios.
Opinion
Distracted walking a growing problem
- Opinion
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Fed ammo theories show who is gullible
Ask 10 people for their thoughts on the National Rifle Association, and you'll likely get a broad range of responses. But on one point, we can all agree - if a threat to the Second Amendment appears, the NRA will find out about it and quickly spread the word. That's why it was nice to see the NRA last summer shoot down one of the more absurd rumors that's been making the rounds: that the federal Department of Homeland Security and other agencies are hoarding massive stockpiles of ammunition for secret, nefarious purposes.
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Natural gas boom is a false promise
Support for the Constitution and Leatherstocking Pipelines is based primarily on the false promise of affordable shale gas. False, since the price of this gas is too volatile to make it a reliable energy source in the future.
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Locally led baseball team deserves support
Springtime has finally come to us in the greater Oneonta area, with its warmth, sunshine, emerging shrubs, green lawns, with more smiles than frowns, and how we relish it!
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Schools must find ways to deal with threats
Anonymous threats to schools are nothing new. Through the years, they have consisted -- among other messages -- of anonymous phone calls, magazine or newspaper lettering glued to a letter, and scrawled warnings on a bathroom mirror.
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City should improve access to river
Many cities make the river running through it a focal point for its scenic qualities. By doing this, they attract more people to their city to spend some time there and also utilize the stores, restaurants and hotels.
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Otsego County veteran's director is top-notch
The veterans of Otsego County are being well-served by Jack Henson, director. I feel he is the best director that has ever served in this county.
- Tuesday, May 21, 2013
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On our Opinion: Cheers
To the DEP's "The Watershed Experience," the Oneonta High School Envirothon team, and to ROPS rebate funding.
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Make sure Blodgett project holds water
Many thanks to Dennis Finn and the Planning Commission for allowing unrestricted public comment on the Blodgett Drive housing project at the commission’s May 15 meeting. Most who spoke are residents of the area who know the safety and drainage issues well.
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We need a law against Google Glass
It’s a technological marvel; a product ahead of its time, or at least ahead of the law for the time being, that is.
- Monday, May 20, 2013
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Make sure you vote in school tax election
School superintendents have it anything but easy in these challenging economic times. In addition to dealing with myriad day-to-day and semester-to-semester issues, they have to have Solomon-like political acumen and management skills.
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No foreign aid until our needs are met
I couldn't agree more with Sal Furnari's letter published in the Weekend edition. I would also like to add that when I was growing up I was taught to "take care of my own first" and then share with others.
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THIS WEEK'S POLL
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It's sad to see Rich Murphy retire
It was a sad day for Otsego County when Rich Murphy announced his intention to retire from the county board at the end of his current term.
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Liberal media only care about themselves
Sounds like it all depends on 'whose ox is being gored' when it comes to the illegal phone tappings of reporters.
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Street Talk: May 20, 2013
Do you think that recent high school graduates have a harder time finding a job than previous generations?
- Saturday, May 18, 2013
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Casino in our area worth talking about
If Gov. Andrew Cuomo has his way, casinos will be awarded to three upstate locations.
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Public financing could cure pols' paranoia
Paranoia is an irrational fear of persons, places or events that have no basis in reality.
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Resort proposal is just too big
Belleayre Mountain Ski Center is a New York state taxpayer-owned recreational area. People who have paid for BMSC with their hard-earned dollars should not have to also pay for the infrastructure necessary to assure an enjoyable ski experience for the visitors to a private developer's monster mega-mall/spa resort on a mountaintop.
- Friday, May 17, 2013
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Take precautions to prevent kidnappings
It has been nearly two weeks since the arrest of Ariel Castro in Cleveland on rape and kidnapping charges for acts that should send a chill through the spines of everyone in America.
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Redistributing wealth just isn't fair
Yesterday a dozen of us were eating lunch in the break room where I work, most of us complaining that all we could afford was peanut butter and jelly and bologna ... except for Rob.
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Fed ammo theories show who is gullible
