Many likely saw the surveillance video of the Pennsylvania man who fell of a train platform while talking on the phone. It sounds funny at first, like it must be a part of a joke. In reality however, people who are walking from one place to another are dying due to what is being called distracted walking, at an alarming rate. Perhaps not surprisingly a culprit in the incidents is handheld electronic devices such as MP3 players and telephones.

The phenomenon, which is believed to be underreported, has nonetheless increased fourfold over the course of the last seven years. Though the number of pedestrian deaths is available, so far statistics regarding what the deceased pedestrian was doing when he or she died, currently is not. Some operators of trains and buses said that individuals who have been hit in the past appear to have not heard horns sounded to get them out of the way. These pedestrians were either talking on a phone or listening to music at the time.

While multitasking is highly valued in today's society, incidents such as this one cast doubt on just how much one person can do at one time. Legislators in some cities located throughout the nation have decided the response to that question is not much, at least when a cellphone is involved, and attempted to pass distracted walking bills. They were unable to turn those bills into laws however.

In this instance, despite falling on his head, the man was not seriously hurt in the fall. He lucked out that a train did not arrive at the stop until after he was able to collect himself and get off the tracks. Sadly, not all are so fortunate.

Source: USA Today, "Distracted pedestrians stumble into danger," Associated Press, July 30, 2012

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