Distracted walking: Cell phones increase injury risk for college pedestrians

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Abstract

Introduction

Distraction on cell phones jeopardizes motor-vehicle driver safety, but few studies examine distracted walking. At particular risk are college students, who walk frequently in and near traffic, have increased pedestrian injury rates compared to other age groups, and frequently use cell phones. Method: Using an interactive and immersive virtual environment, two experiments studied the effect of cell phone conversation on distraction of college student pedestrians. In the first, we examined whether pedestrians would display riskier behavior when distracted by a naturalistic cell phone conversation than when undistracted. We also considered whether individual difference factors would moderate the effect of the distraction. In a second experiment, we examined the impact of three forms of distraction on pedestrian safety: (a) engaging in a cell phone conversation, (b) engaging in a cognitively challenging spatial task by phone, and (c) engaging in a cognitively challenging mental arithmetic task by phone. Results: Results revealed that cell phone conversations distracted college pedestrians considerably across all pedestrian safety variables measured, with just one exception. Attention to traffic was not affected by the naturalistic phone conversation in Experiment 1, but was altered by the cognitively-demanding content of some types of conversation in Experiment 2. The content of the conversation did not play a major role in distraction across other variables; both mundane and cognitively complex conversations distracted participants. Moreover, no significant associations between individual difference factors and susceptibility to distraction emerged. Impact on Industry: Results may inform researchers, policy makers, and pedestrians themselves. Educational campaigns might discourage telephone conversations in pedestrian environments.

Research Highlights

► This study examined cell phone distraction in college student pedestrians. ► Cell phones distracted pedestrians across most pedestrian safety variables measured. ► Both mundane and cognitively complex conversations distracted participants. ► No associations emerged between individual factors and distraction susceptibility. ► Results may inform researchers, policy makers, and pedestrians themselves.

Introduction

Pedestrian injury is a major public health issue. Of particular concern for injury risk are young adults, a population known in the United States to cross streets more frequently and to have higher pedestrian injury rates than other age groups (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2009). In 2007, pedestrian-related injuries resulted in 924 deaths and roughly 20,000 hospital visits for Americans between 16 and 29 years of age (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2007).

Nearly all American college students carry cell phones, and most use them with great frequency. A recent survey by the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA, 2010) estimated that over 285 million Americans currently own cell phones. Although cell phones and other technologies offer tremendous convenience, they also pose risk in certain situations. Almost 9 in 10 young adults admit to talking on a cell phone while driving, for example, making them the most likely age group to engage in this dangerous activity (Harris Poll, 2006, Walsh et al., 2008). Most college students do not negotiate roads only in vehicles, however. College students walk frequently, and often talk on the phone while they walk. Few studies have examined what effect, if any, cell phones may pose for pedestrian safety.

An accumulating body of literature supports the hypothesis that cell phones jeopardize the safety of drivers (Caird et al., 2008, Horrey and Wickens, 2006, Strayer and Drews, 2007, Strayer and Johnston, 2001), but very little work has examined the influence of cell phones on pedestrian safety. Early work in the area focused on observations of pedestrians (Bungum et al., 2005, Hatfield and Murphy, 2007, Nasar et al., 2008) and reported that many pedestrians walked while distracted by various activities and that distracted walkers used fewer cautionary behaviors (e.g., looking left and right, waiting for a walk signal) before crossing.

More recently, two studies have examined the risk of distraction to pedestrians in virtual environments. In one study, child (ages 10–11) pedestrians distracted on the phone were less attentive, left less safe time between completing their crossing and the next vehicle arriving, experienced more collisions and close calls, and waited longer before beginning to cross the street, than when undistracted (Stavrinos, Byington, & Schwebel, 2009). In the second, adults distracted by a phone conversation took more risks in the virtual pedestrian environment than those distracted by listening to music or those who had no distractions present (Neider, McCarley, Crowell, Kaczmarski, & Kramer, 2010).

The present study used two experiments to study the effect of cell phone conversation on distraction of college student pedestrians. The first experiment was designed primarily to replicate previous findings (Neider et al., 2010): We tested whether college student pedestrians would take more risks in a virtual pedestrian environment when distracted by a telephone conversation. We also considered the influence of several covariates: experience with cell phones, experience as a pedestrian, and performance on neuropsychological tests measuring attention and inhibition. The second experiment was designed to study whether particular types of cognitive distraction, such as a spatially-oriented conversation or intense mental processing while conversing, might be particularly damaging to safe pedestrian ability. Participants engaged in the virtual environment with four levels of distraction (none, phone conversation, spatially-oriented conversation, and mental arithmetic). We hypothesized the spatially-oriented and mental arithmetic tasks would create even greater risk than a mundane conversation, and that all three would result in greater pedestrian injury risk than no distraction.

Section snippets

Experiment 1

The primary aim of the first experiment was to examine the effect of a naturalistic cell phone conversation on college student pedestrian injury risk. We hypothesized that participants would behave in a riskier manner when crossing the street while engaged in a cell phone conversation than when not distracted. This experiment also had a secondary aim to examine individual difference factors that might predict risky behavior. We hypothesized that those with less experience with cell phones, less

Experiment 2

Experiment 2 examined the impact of particular types of distraction on pedestrian injury risk in college students. Three forms of distraction were considered using a within-subjects design: (a) engaging in a naturalistic cell phone conversation with a research assistant (the same distraction strategy used in Experiment 1); (b) engaging in a spatial task verbally by phone; and (c) engaging in a mental arithmetic task verbally by phone. We hypothesized that the tasks that required more

General Discussion

The results from both experiments suggest cell phone conversations distract college pedestrians to a level of compromised safety. Experiment 1 suggests that all students are influenced by distraction; it is not just inexperienced pedestrians, inexperienced phone users, or those with weaker attentional or processing skills who can be distracted crossing the street while talking on the phone. Experiment 2 suggests that the content of the conversation does not play a major role in distraction

Despina Stavrinos is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham University Transportation Center. She earned her B.S. in psychology from the University of Alabama and her M.A. and Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Stavrinos’ research focuses on the cognitive aspects of transportation-related pediatric injury, with a particular emphasis on the impact of distraction on pedestrians and teen drivers. She has received funding

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  • Cited by (0)

    Despina Stavrinos is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham University Transportation Center. She earned her B.S. in psychology from the University of Alabama and her M.A. and Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Stavrinos’ research focuses on the cognitive aspects of transportation-related pediatric injury, with a particular emphasis on the impact of distraction on pedestrians and teen drivers. She has received funding from multiple federal agencies.

    Katherine W. Byington is a doctoral student in the Medical/Clinical Psychology program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She earned a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Alabama and a M.A. in Clinical Psychology from UAB. Katherine is currently conducting a study examining the use of mobile internet while crossing the street and its possible affect on pedestrian safety. Her primary clinical interest is related to intervention and treatment for children with behavioral disorders.

    David C. Schwebel is Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Psychology at University of Alabama at Birmingham. He earned his B.A. in psychology from Yale University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology from University of Iowa. Dr. Schwebel's research focuses on understanding and preventing unintentional injury in children. He has developed and implemented injury prevention techniques for pedestrian safety training in virtual reality, school playground safety via behavioral strategies, drowning prevention through lifeguard training at public swimming pools, and kerosene safety in low-income South African neighborhoods. His research has been funded by multiple federal and non-profit agencies.

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