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REAL LIFE NEWS: CAN YOU WALK AND TEXT AT THE SAME TIME?

by Hazed

You have no doubt heard some people described as too dumb to walk and chew gum at the same time. The modern-day version of this seems to be people that can’T walk and text at the same time.

In the past few years we have seen entertaining videos of people falling over while texting - here’s a woman tumbling into a fountain and a teenage girl falling down a hole. Very amusing.

But it’s not such a joke when people walk straight into traffic because their phone stops them from looking where they are going. Now a US town has made walking and texting illegal.

Police in Fort Lee, New Jersey will be on the lookout for people walking while texting, and will slap them with a fine for jaywalking. They have brought in this new measure after more than 20 pedestrians were hit by cars in 2012.

In the six weeks they’ve been levying the fines, 117 texters have had to cough up.

In the UK, we don’t have a law against jaywalking - it is accepted that if you choose to run across the road dodging traffic, it’s your lookout! And while I am sure it’s tragic for the family and friends of anyone who dies in an accident, I can’t help thinking that if you’re so easily distracted by your phone that you wander into traffic then you shouldn’t be trusted with sharp implements either!

Having said that, two professors from Stony Brook University in New York have conducted a study on walking and texting, and they found that texters tend to veer off a straight line without realizing it. So maybe there is something pernicious about phones that grabs the attention and stops you noticing your surroundings. Still, I’m not sure it’s worthy of a fine, unless the town is very hard up and needs an extra revenue source.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/18056565

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