Mobile users too engrossed to notice traffic, train tracks and.. bears

In the last seven years, the number of people who met with an accident while using a mobile phone has risen a whopping 400%, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Last year in the U.S. 1,150 people went to hospital because of messing with their mobile while on-the-go. An article from Yahoo says this figure is likely under-reported.

With the growing number and prolific use of mobile and other hand-held devices, people are far too engrossed in checking emails, social networks or texting to be watching where they are going.

Anyone who has walked along a busy street will no doubt have come across a transfixed mobile zombie, or had one crash into them. It's not hard to see why some places want to ban walking and texting, it's becoming as dangerous as driving and texting. Both New York and Arkansas considered regulating the use of hand-held devices and headphones whilst walking, but neither bill could be passed.

People have ended up on train tracks, walking off the end of piers, and into traffic. And let's not forget the bear.

I wonder if Google Glasses will help lower the number of mobile accidents or whether a new generation of forward-looking, bespectacled zombies is on the horizon.

Tags: consumer attitudes, consumer behavior, distration, mobile accidents, mobile phone