The use of iPods and other hand held gadgets is causing an increasing number of Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs), says the Automobile Association (AA), who is describing the problem facing road users and pedestrians variously as ‘iPod oblivion’ and the curse of the ‘iPod Zombies.’

Texting while driving or walking, listening to music players, using mobile phones and other hand held technologies such as electronic organisers is a growing concern for the AA, which is warning the public about just how lethal such practices can be, especially for pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers.

Pedestrians and joggers are especially at risk of turning into zombified victims of accidents as they move around in a world of their own while using music players, mobile phones and electronic gadgets, the AA says, leading to potentially fatal injuries and accidents involving road vehicles.

The AA has reported numerous incidents of pedestrians stepping out into traffic oblivious of incoming vehicles; and situations like drivers of vehicles breaking down on the hard shoulder of motorways and then pacing up and down while on a mobile phone, oblivious to the dangers of traffic whizzing by.

AA President Edmund King says: “We can’t stop the march of technology but we need to halt the iPod pedestrian, cycle and driver zombies.

“Whether on two feet, two wheels or four, too many people are suffering from so-called ‘iPod oblivion.’

“When on the move our brains have much to take in and using technological gadgets means that our brains can’t always concentrate on so many things at once. This is when we walk into traffic, don’t hear the truck or drive cocooned from the outside world.”

Although not just identifying the use of iPods but all brands of smart devices, AA patrols have noted a marked increase in the number of zombified pedestrians and joggers, oblivious to traffic around them as they cross busy roads.

It is thought that pedestrians’ lack of attention may be a factor in some of the frighteningly high numbers of 500 pedestrian accidents leading to deaths in the last year; or the staggeringly high 26,887 pedestrian casualties last year.

Analysis from AA Insurance shows that pedestrian inattention could be the cause of up to 17 accident collisions daily. The AA says there has been a five per cent increase in these types of collisions in the last year.

Tellingly, more than half of AA Insurance claims involving a pedestrian include causes such as people on a phone stepping out but not looking, pedestrians just walking out into the path of a vehicle, pedestrians looking the wrong way and people walking into the sides of cars.

Around 20 per cent of these claims were for accidents where the driver swerved to avoid a pedestrian and then hit something else – for example: another car, a street bollard, or a lamp-post.

In one such Road Traffic Accident, a driver swerved to avoid a pedestrian in the road but the vehicle ending up hitting a chemist shop.

RTA pedestrian injuries also include cases where pedestrians are drunk.

The AA is particularly keen to highlight the worrying trend reported by its patrols of people breaking down on hard shoulders of motorways; and then pacing back and forwards, whilst using mobile phones with lorries and HGVs speeding by just feet away.

No matter what the situation though, the AA wishes to highlight the dangers of hand held technologies while out and about.

It is the use of such technology on the move leading to a lack of concentration which is starting to pose a major risk for road safety.

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