Texting while walking increases the risk of being hit by a car: University of British Columbia study



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Distracted drivers are responsible for many collisions in BC, but a new study points the finger at the risk of a distracted march.

A new study on UBC, Tuesday, suggests that people who walk and write at the same time walk

Engineers used automated video badysis to examine pedestrian movements and walking at an intersection at busy four-lane from Kamloops. Using three mounted cameras, they badyzed 357 pedestrians for two days

"We found that more than a third of pedestrians were distracted by their cell phones – texting and reading or talking and listening", said the main author Rushdi Alsaleh. "Distracted pedestrians had more difficulty maintaining their speed and pace and taking longer to cross the road, which increased the risk of conflict with vehicles."

Distracted pedestrian movements also differed according to how which they used their devices.

Those who were writing or reading took shorter steps without slowing down their frequency, while those who spoke on the phone took longer steps without changing the length of their steps.

Results Can Also Help Keep Pedestrians Away

An autonomous vehicle can be programmed to recognize pedestrians distracted from their walking habits, he said. "Our research is aimed at explaining how accidents happen on the roads by improving the modeling of the behavior of people and cars on the road," said Tarek Sayed, a professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia . [19659002] "We hope that our methods can be used to calibrate pedestrian simulation programs more precisely, helping planners build safer roads and engineers to design smarter autonomous vehicles."


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