Citation

Schwebel DC. Inj. Prev. 2013; 19(1): 75-76.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/injuryprev-2012-040682

PMID

23171537

Abstract

Comments on: Lichenstein R, Smith DC, Ambrose JL, et al. Headphone use and pedestrian injury and death in the United States: 2004–2011. Inj Prev 2012;18:287-290; and Schwebel DC, Stavrinos D, Byington KW, et al. Distraction and pedestrian safety: how talking on the phone, texting, and listening to music impact crossing the street. Accid Anal Prev 2012;45:266–71.

Why is this emerging data trend—that traffic sounds may play a key role in pedestrian safety—important? For several reasons, but one looms large. If pedestrians rely on sound to judge approaching traffic, how might the advent of electric and hybrid cars—vehicles that produce little or no sound—affect pedestrian safety? Are we inadvertently creating pedestrian safety risk with environmentally friendly vehicles? Do pedestrians use their ears as well as their eyes and feet to maintain safety?


Keywords: Driver distraction;

Language: en