Is Texting and Walking the Next Texting While Driving?

Evidence continues to mount that texting and walking is risky business, according to research reported by WebMD. Research indicates that texting while walking negatively impacts a pedestrian’s balance and his or her gait. It also distracts a walker, rendering them unaware of potential hazards that may be in their path. Texting and walking increases the risk that a pedestrian is injured or that a distracted pedestrian ends up harming someone else in some manner.

The Extent of Texting and Walking

Texting while walking is a ubiquitous practice at this juncture in time. It is part of the larger phenomena of people from all walks of life being intently focused on smartphones and other devices with screens during an extensive part of the day. In fact, multiple research studies report that a large swath of people spends half their waking hours looking into screens. A startling 70 percent of people text and walk in the United States report that they text and walk, according to the New York Times. The number of people who end up in hospital emergency rooms because of accidents sustained when texting while walking doubled in recent years. Keep in mind that not only are texting walkers hurting themselves, but they do also injure others with increasing regularity.

Common Texting and Walking Accidents

The more common types of accidents sustained by someone texting while walking include pedestrians injured in intersections, crosswalks or when crossing the street at improper locations. In other words, texting walkers are getting hit by automobiles. In some cases, both the auto driver and the pedestrian may be deemed at fault for such an accident. However, more often than not, the texting pedestrian is the negligent party. Other types of accidents arising from the text and walk practice include trip and fall incidents and running into inanimate objects like lampposts and trees. The Internet is awash with videos of more peculiar texting while walking accidents, including people stumbling into fountains and even one poor sap who was texting while strolling on a nature trail, colliding with a bear.

Personal Injury Cases

Although more often than not, the injured party in a texting and walking accident is also the negligent party. Thus, the injured texting pedestrian has no real recourse. However, there truly are incidents in which the texting pedestrian causes damage or injuries to someone else. For example, a texting walker might collide with another person, knocking that individual to the ground causing injuries.No matter the underlying reason, an individual who sustained personal injuries because of the negligence of someone else best protects his right or interests by retaining a qualified, committed and experienced personal injury attorney.

A personal injury attorney fights to ensure that an injured person obtains the compensation to which he or she is entitled. This can include compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost income and emotional distress. In many cases, a person is entitled to compensation not only for current losses, but also for those losses that reasonably can be expected to be incurred in the future.

A personal injury attorney schedules an initial consultation to meet a prospective client and do a preliminary case evaluation. Typically, a personal injury attorney charges no fee for an initial consultation.