Stockholm – Sweden Transport Agency showed in the past 10 years, 650 pedestrians and cyclists have ended up in emergency wards because of using their mobile phones while in traffic.
Tomas Fredlund, an analyst at the Swedish transport agency, Transportstyrelsen, told newsmen that the study was commissioned on Monday in Stockholm.
It reported that there were around 100 incidents per year wherein Swedes have been injured in traffic as a result of using their mobile phones while crossing streets or riding bikes.
“I would not say it is a major safety issue but it is a widespread behavior,’’ Fredlund told newsmen.
According to him, the most common and most serious mobile-phone related traffic accidents occur when pedestrians or cyclists are hit by vehicles.
Fredlund added that those accidents tend to cause the most severe injuries.
“It is almost as common for people to walk into poles while on the phone, but in those cases the injuries do not tend to be as serious.
“There are also the odd cases of fatal accidents, but thankfully those are unusual,’’ Fredlund said.
The transport agency statistics focused on cases whereby mobile-phone users have ended up in emergency wards with everything from skull injuries to more harmless fractures and soft tissue injuries.
Mobile-phone related traffic accidents still only stand for a small share of the total number of accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists.
“It is more common for pedestrians to slip on ice during winter, for instance,’’ he noted.
However, Fredlund believed many cases were never reported.
“If the police is involved then I think people tend not to tell them they have been inattentive,’’ Fredlund said. (Xinhua/NAN)
