October 21, 2009
Mobile phone users cannot walk in straight line
People chatting on mobile phones are oblivious to their surroundings and can pose a risk to themselves and others, scientists have claimed, reports The Telegraph.
Researchers made the discovery by watching the movements of hundreds of people as they crossed a university campus.
They then got a clown to ride a unicycle around the campus square and asked how many phone users spotted him as they walked by.
They found that those that used mobile phones meandered randomly and failed to ackowledge other pedesterians.
More than two-thirds also failed to notice the clown, even though he wore a purple and yellow shirt, outsized shoes and a giant red nose.
... Professor Ira Hyman, a psychologist who led the study at Western Washington University in the USA, called the phenomenon “attentional blindness”.
The study does not imply that people should be banned from walking and talking, but it backs up safety concerns about the use of the phones in cars.
Read full article.
Related:
-- 6 million people hurt in the UK last year while texting and talking
-- Padded lampost to protect texters was PR stunt
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