Individuals throughout Pennsylvania routinely sustain personal injuries for a variety of reasons. Accidents involving motor vehicles are one of the most common ways in which this occurs. While there are certainly a fair number of accidents like this that involve multiple vehicles, there are also instances when cars hit pedestrians. This particular type of motor vehicle accident can result in catastrophic injuries to the pedestrian, sometimes even death.

Injuries to people hit by cars are unfortunately quite common. While there are likely several reasons for this, a contributing factor is probably the widespread use of headphones with iPods and MP3 players to listen to music. According to a recent report conducted by the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital, between January 2004 and June 2011, 116 deaths to pedestrians wearing headphones were recorded.

Over 100 of these accidents occurred in a city. While cars were involved in many of the incidents, more than half of the victims were actually hit by trains. Perhaps not surprisingly, overall, a majority of the people who died were under the age of 30.

The lead researcher in the study indicated the use of headphones not only blocks out warning sounds such as horns and sirens but also serves as a distraction for the person wearing them.

While there are certainly times when an accident could be avoided if a pedestrian was to be able to hear an approaching vehicle it is important that all drivers do what they can to avoid crashes with anything around them.

Source: US News and World Report, “Injuries to Pedestrians Wearing Headphones Tripled Since 2004,” Steven Reinberg, Jan. 17, 2012