| "Cell phones clearly
offer convenience and safeguards to families, but they also may pose
risk," they said, "particularly when children attempt to multitask while
conversing on the cell phone and have reduced cognitive capacity to
devote to potentially dangerous activities such as crossing streets."
For the study, researchers used a virtual reality
software program and three screens to display an actual Birmingham-area
crosswalk with simulated vehicles of different sizes traveling on the
virtual street. The psychologists found that all of the children - even
those who were experienced with talking on cell phones, crossing streets
or rated as highly attentive - were more likely to exhibit risky
behaviors when they crossed the virtual street while talking on a cell
phone.
Specifically, it took the children who were on a cell
phone 20 percent longer to begin crossing the street, and they were 43
percent more likely to be hit by a vehicle or have a close call in the
virtual environment. In addition, the children looked both ways 20
percent fewer times before crossing the street and gave themselves 8
percent less time to cross safely in front of oncoming traffic when they
were on the cell phone. (more)
The study was published by UAB doctoral student
Despina Stavrinos, M.S., under the direction of UAB psychologist David
Schwebel, Ph.D. UAB graduate student Katherine Byington also contributed
to the study.
In this study, 77 children, aged 10-11, completed
simulated street crossings in the virtual environment. They were asked
to cross the virtual street six times without a cell phone and six times
while talking on a cell phone with an unfamiliar research assistant.
The UAB researchers asked the children to cross the
virtual street when they believed it was safe. The children stepped from
the "curb," onto a pad with a pressure switch electronically connected
to a computer, and the system registered the precise moment they entered
the "street."
Cell phones are quickly becoming ubiquitous among
American schoolchildren, the UAB psychologists wrote. "Commercial
interests actively market cell phones for children, and marketing
research firms estimate that 54 percent of children 8-12 will have cell
phones by the end of [this year,] double the 2006 rate."
Just as drivers should limit cell phone use while
driving, pedestrians, and especially child pedestrians, should avoid
using cell phone while crossing streets, the UAB researchers said.
More research is needed to determine the impact that
texting, listening to mp3 players and talking to peers has on children's
ability cross streets safely, they said.
The study was partially supported by the UAB Injury
Control Research Center through a grant from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and a cooperative agreement with the Federal
Highway Administration. |
