Six Million People Walk Into Lampposts While Texting
I’m not sure about the stats quoted in this survey from the Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK, which isn’t exactly renowned for it’s quality journalism. The Mirror reported that six million people were hurt crashing into lampposts and bins last year while texting and talking on their mobiles.
The article went on to state that padded lampposts are being tested in London’s Brick Lane, which has the highest number of ‘walking and texting’ injuries in the UK.
According to the survey, 63 per cent of people concentrate so hard while texting they are unaware of their surroundings. The one that really bugs me is when I see people texting when they are driving, which is even worse than talking on the phone when driving. I let a lady pull out at the weekend who was texting and even though I gave way to her, she still nearly caused a massive accident as she wasn’t paying attention and couldn’t control her car properly with one hand.
I would love to see the latest stats on how many SMSs UK people send on average, as I’m sure usage is still increasing.
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Comment by Adam Dempsey on 15 April 2008:
I send about an average of 2000 a month lately I think, not sure how that compares to other people.
Comment by Paul on 15 April 2008:
Considering that there are only about 60 million people in the uk, that means that 1 in 10 have done it in the last year, which i cant believe. so you are right the Mirror is not accurate
Comment by Phil Benwell on 15 April 2008:
I can’t say anything, I almost did that today after coming out of the psot office.
Comment by Rob O. on 15 April 2008:
Padded lampposts?!!! How much more frivilous does it get?!!
This sounds like a self-resolving problem if ever there were one. Let’s break down the math:
1. You walk down the street oblivious to your surroundings because you’re too busy texting.
2. You smack your silly self into a lamppost, mailbox, or some other permanent structure because you weren’t paying attention.
3. You pick yourself up, get stitches (if needed) and learn a valuable lesson about being more mindful of where you’re walking - and maybe that you should do less texting.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
If you can’t learn from this kind of silly blunder then by all means, please go ahead & stray in front of a bus while texting and do us all a small favor. And be sure to drag one of those self-important always-has-a-bluetooth-headset-stuck-in-his-ear morons in front of that bus with ya!
Sheesh!
Comment by Nicole Price on 16 April 2008:
Like seat belts became compulsory, like airbags will eventually, and like helmets for bikers, some method will have to be found for all these serious people. I wonder if any of them have ever found out how much of the messages that they send and receive are really of any use.
Comment by Rob O. on 16 April 2008:
One of my co-workers has a very appropriate motto: Just because you CAN do a thing, does not necessarily mean that you SHOULD do that thing.
Likewise with all of the text messaging-obsessed people. We somehow managed to survive quite nicely 20-30 years ago without all of this instantaneous communication. Yet today, people seem to feel that they “need” constant connectivity.
Cell phones steal the independence and rationale from those - especially kids - who carry them. They no longer have to mentally map out what they’ll be doing for the remainder of the day or if they’ll need something from someone else at some point in the day. Instead, many cell-addicts just wander blindly off into the day, knowing that they’re always a button-press away from their parents, spouses, or friends who’ll swoop in and rescue them at the last minute.
Cell phones may very well be the nastiest new drug around. Wonder how long it’ll be before there are “Cellaholics Anonymous” clinics popping up?
Comment by Abhishek on 18 April 2008:
I have done it quite a few times and once it was a very hard shot in my head luckily just survived with a bump
Abhishek
Comment by Rob O. on 18 April 2008:
“The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn…” - Richard Bach