Florida Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Blog

Cellphones, Clowns and Unicycles? | Florida Accident and Injury Lawyer

In what can only be called a unique study, researchers have found pedestrian cell-phone users are so engrossed in holding a conversation while walking, that they are likely to miss a clown on a unicycle!

The study at Western Washington University showed cell-phone users walk slower and weave more while talking. Lead researcher, Ira Hyman, Jr. suggests the research points to other pedestrian dangers, as well.

"If [cell-phone use] disrupts something as simple as walking, which I'm assuming most of these people have been doing a long time and are pretty proficient at ...it's going to be a really difficult task driving."

Hyman took the research one step further by having a student dress up in a clown suit and ride a unicycle around the school's central plaza. Cell-phone users were less than half as likely to notice the clown, compared to those listening to music players or individuals walking on their own - without any electronics. People who walked in pairs were the most likely to notice the clown.

He went on to say: "So, it's not the conversation that's the problem; it's not an electronic device that's the problem, it's something about a cell phone conversation, where the problem is."

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety states drivers using cell phones are 4 times as likely to get into serious car accidents in which someone is badly injured.

Our Tampa Bay Personal Injury Law Firm has been diligently representing injured clients for over twenty-five years. If you've been hurt or injured in an accident due to the negligence of another person, chances are you might not know where to turn.

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