Reading or writing text messages while you are walking is dangerous. A new study says it is more dangerous than texting while driving. The study is from the University of Buffalo in the USA. Researchers found that there are more injuries per kilometer to texting pedestrians than there are to texting motorists. Their report says walking is not as easy as we think it is. We need to focus on many things at the same time to walk safely in a straight line. The research team said that people forget how to walk properly, so dangerous things happen to them. They bump into walls and other people, walk into cars, fall over things in the street, and even fall into holes or down stairs.

A University of Buffalo professor said walking is a complex action. He said there are several reasons why texting stops people from walking properly. One reason is that they cannot see the path ahead of them. Another is that they are focused on their fingers on their mobile phone keyboard instead of their feet on the street. A final reason is that their minds are somewhere else and not on thinking about walking from A to B safely. The professor said over 6,000 people visited his hospital last year because they were injured while texting. He said the worst cases are head injuries. When a pedestrian is tossed into the air after being hit by a car, he/she has nothing to protect the head, and the damage can be serious.