"Report notes increase in accidents of people wearing headphones while walking"
A slightly closer read sheds a little more light on what they're looking at. This was a retrospective study of accidents over a 7 year period. The accidents mentioned weren't simply stepping wrong off a side-walk or walking into a light-post.... we're dealing with people getting hit and killed by trains and the like!
In something along the lines of 30% of the cases, a warning sound was present before the victim was hit, but they did not respond (presumably because the music / sound from the headphones drowned out the warning sound).
This sure says a lot for a simpler and more attentive approach to life -- perhaps we don't always need to be plugged into our electronics (especially when around trains and fast moving cars).
For more info: The ABC World News spot (16:42 into full broadcast from 1/16), an article in HealthDay , the study itself, and another article in MedPage Today.
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