The study itself is small but it’s an eye opener.  Kids talking on cell phones while stepping onto or using designated crosswalks to cross busy streets are a dangerous combo.  The children, distracted by cell phone conversation, don’t pay as much attention to traffic as they should for optimum safety, according to the latest issue of the medical journal, ‘Pediatrics,’ and are 43% more likely to get hit by a vehicle as a result.  When the danger of drivers distracted by talking on their own cell phones is added to the equation, the results can be quite heartbreaking.

Despina Stavrinos, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, used virtual reality software to simulate crossing the street at a very real crosswalk in Birmingham.  Three television screens at the crosswalk provided the traffic.

Stavrinos’ team then enlisted the help of 77 children, all 10 or 11 years old and all safely tucked away in the laboratory, to evaluate the children’s behaviors as they “crossed the street” while using or not using cell phones.  Each child stepped from a curb area onto a sensor pad in response to the televised traffic and each child completed the exercise six times not talking on a cell phone and six more times while speaking, via their cell phones, to one of the research assistants.

Even children used to using cell phones exhibited a “reduced cognitive capacity to devote to potentially dangerous activities” while talking and walking, according to the study.  The dangers of such multitasking included:

• The children took about 20% longer to begin crossing the street when using their phones.
• They were 43% more likely to be hit by a car or experience a close call when talking on the phone.
• While on the phone, looking both ways before entering the crosswalk was forgotten about 20% of the time.
• Their cell phone use shortened the time they allowed themselves to cross the street by 8%.

These risky behaviors may not even be apparent to the children but the study highlights the need to refrain from cell phone use while walking through traffic.  As cell phones gain ground in our daily lives, more and more people are distracted from the primary activity at hand and increased awareness of safety while driving and while crossing the street becomes ever more important.