Hospital emergency rooms in the US are reporting that injuries to 'distracted' pedestrians have more than quadrupled in the last seven years, writes Brian Byrne.
And though the suspected cause of the spike is smartphone use while walking in public places, there's not yet enough data to confirm the suspicion.
In Philadelphia, city officials are working on a safety campaign aimed at making pedestrians lift their heads up from texting, fiddling with iPods, or playing video games while walking.
An extreme case recorded on CCTV in the city showed a young man falling onto the tracks at a subway station while talking on his cellphone. Luckily, he managed to clamber back onto the platform before the next train came along.
