Hear ye! Open ears for safety in the streets
Two men wearing earphones cross a street in New York (Feb. 8, 2007). Credit: AP
Bad enough that the spread of earbuds and MP3 players has sealed more and more of us into our own private cocoons of sound. Now University of Maryland researchers have found that injuries to pedestrians wearing headphones have tripled since 2004, presumably because so many more people are doing so.
The numbers are still small (47 in 2010-11 versus 16 in the earlier period), but the trend is alarming. Note that, overall, 70 percent of the 116 accidents scientists found resulted in death. More than two-thirds of victims were men younger than 30. And Long Islanders take note: More than half the accidents involved trains.
Life is more fun when it has a soundtrack, but perhaps not around train tracks. For safety's sake, let's take out the earbuds and listen up when walking in traffic or around the Long Island Rail Road.
