Patrols have noticed a marked increase in the number of 'iPod zombie pedestrians'
The UK's Automobile Association (AA) has issued a warning against what it calls 'iPod oblivion' - which it describes as a 'trance-like or Zombie state entered by some people using MP3 players, phones and electronic organisers on the move that can be lethal for pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers'.
More than half of the AA's Insurance claims involve a pedestrian - about 20 per cent of those claims were where the driver swerved to avoid a pedestrian and hit something else, such as another car, a bollard, or a lamp-post.
Excluded from the analysis are cases where the pedestrian was drunk, an attempted suicide or where the driver clearly was at fault, with technology to blame in most cases.
Edmund King, the AA President, said: "We can't stop the march of technology but we need to halt the 'iPod pedestrian, cycle and driver zombies'. Whether on two feet, two wheels or four, too many people are suffering from so-called 'iPod oblivion'.
"When on the move our brains have much to take in and using technological gadgets means that our brains can't always concentrate on so many things at once. This is when we walk into traffic, don't hear the truck or drive cocooned from the outside world."
Advertisement
