'Walking and Talking' on Cell Phone Distracting and Dangerous

Sure from time to time we've decided to 'walk and talk' with a friend or even on our cell phone.

Unfortunately, new statistics show that strolling down the road on your cell phone can cause distractions that be potentially dangerous to ourselves and to others. 

"If current trends continue, I wouldn't be surprised if the number of injuries to pedestrians caused by cellphones doubles again between 2010 and 2015," study researcher Jack Nasar, professor of city and regional planning at The Ohio State University, said in a statement.

Since 2010, 'walking and talking' on our handheld devices has sent more than 1,500 people to the ER, a number that's almost tripled over a six year period. According to the study, researchers are expecting that number to triple by 2015, and they even estimate that this number doesn't even come close to the amount of actual injuries involving pedestrians on their phones. The Atlantic reports that the real number, as of 2010, could be as high as 2 million. After all, no one wants to admit that a cell phone conversation sent them to the ER, right?

"People really cannot multitask," a researcher notes, via LiveScience. Some amusing examples noted via the case studies include, "28-year-old male walked into pole talking on phone and lacerated brow" and "14-year-old male walking down road talking on cell phone, fell 6-8 ft. off bridge into ditch."

And all that fuss about texting on cell phones being dangerous? Most injuries showed, in fact, that people talking on their cellular devices (70 percent) were at a greater risk than those texting (9 percent.)

The full study "Pedestrian injuries due to mobile phone use in public places," is published in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention.