Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL, USA.
Accid Anal Prev. 2013 Mar;51:78-83. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2012.11.001. Epub 2012 Nov 30.
College-age individuals have the highest incidence of pedestrian injuries of any age cohort. One factor that might contribute to elevated pedestrian injuries among this age group is injuries incurred while crossing streets distracted by mobile devices.
Examine whether young adult pedestrian safety is compromised while crossing a virtual pedestrian street while distracted using the Internet on a mobile "smartphone."
A within-subjects design was implemented with 92 young adults. Participants crossed a virtual pedestrian street 20 times, half the time while undistracted and half while completing an email-driven "scavenger hunt" to answer mundane questions using mobile Internet on their cell phones. Six measures of pedestrian behavior were assessed during crossings. Participants also reported typical patterns of street crossing and mobile Internet use.
Participants reported using mobile Internet with great frequency in daily life, including while walking across streets. In the virtual street environment, pedestrian behavior was greatly altered and generally more risky when participants were distracted by Internet use. While distracted, participants waited longer to cross the street (F=42.37), missed more safe opportunities to cross (F=42.63), took longer to initiate crossing when a safe gap was available (F=53.03), looked left and right less often (F=124.68), spent more time looking away from the road (F=1959.78), and were more likely to be hit or almost hit by an oncoming vehicle (F=29.54; all ps<0.01). Results were retained after controlling for randomized order; participant gender, age, and ethnicity; and both pedestrian habits and mobile Internet experience.
Pedestrian behavior was influenced, and generally considerably riskier, when participants were simultaneously using mobile Internet and crossing the street than when crossing the street with no distraction. This finding reinforces the need for increased awareness concerning the risks of distracted pedestrian behavior.
在所有年龄段中，大学生发生行人受伤的几率最高。导致该年龄段行人受伤率升高的一个因素是，他们在使用移动设备时注意力分散，在过街道时受伤。
检验年轻人在使用移动“智能手机”上网分心时，过虚拟行人横道的安全是否会受到影响。
采用被试内设计，92 名年轻成年人参与了研究。参与者 20 次穿过虚拟行人横道，一半时间不分散注意力，一半时间在使用手机上网完成电子邮件驱动的“寻宝”任务，用手机上网回答无聊的问题。在穿越过程中评估了 6 项行人行为指标。参与者还报告了他们在日常生活中典型的过街道和使用移动互联网的模式。
参与者报告称，他们在日常生活中经常使用移动互联网，包括在过街道时。在虚拟街道环境中，当参与者分心于上网时，行人行为会发生很大改变，通常更具风险。当分心时，参与者等待过马路的时间更长（F=42.37），错过更多安全的过马路机会（F=42.63），当有安全间隙时，开始过马路的时间更长（F=53.03），左右看的次数更少（F=124.68），看路的时间更多（F=1959.78），更有可能被迎面而来的车辆撞到或差点撞到（F=29.54；所有 p 值均<0.01）。在控制随机顺序、参与者性别、年龄和种族以及行人习惯和移动互联网经验后，结果仍然成立。
与没有分心时过街道相比，参与者同时使用移动互联网并过街道时，其行为受到影响，而且通常风险更大。这一发现强化了对分心行人行为风险的认识的必要性。
