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Doctors warn against walking and chewing gum texting

Posted by Joe on July 31, 2008

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Think you can multitask? Your doctor probably disagrees. This week, the American College of Emergency Physicians issued a warning to all you text-walkers out there. Yeah, I’m talking about the guy who slammed into my back while crossing 8th Avenue at 17th Street the other day. I saw you playing on your iPhone. Anyway, the doctors are saying they see a good number of injuries related to people text messaging while walking, and then befalling some clumsy fate, like tripping over a crack in the sidewalk. The best line of the article after the jump.

Most injuries involve scrapes, cuts and sprains from texters who walked into lamppost or walls or tripped over curbs.

Emphasis mine. The mental image is quite hilarious. I actually saw it just a couple of weeks ago, as a few friends and I were walking to the theater to catch the premier of The Dark Knight. Buddyw as tapping away on his Pearl, and then *wham*. Right into the side of a building. I know it didn’t hurt him too much, so much laughter ensued.

It’s not always a barrel of laughs, though. The article cites two instances of pedestrians being struck and killed by cars when crossing the street while texting. Clearly, this is not a good idea. The texting can wait until you’re back on the sidewalk, where all you’ll hit are pedestrians and the occasional hot dog cart.