Texting While Walking Draws Safety Concerns — And An App

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By Cristina Quinn

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Dec. 20, 2011

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A woman talks on her cell phone on the streets of New York City. (UltraSlo1 via Flickr)


BOSTON — Stand at the intersection of any busy area, like Downtown Crossing or Harvard Square, and you’ll see a sea of heads bent over phones, oblivious to what’s going on around them.
 
They’re everywhere. Stumbling on sidewalks, ambling across busy streets, their minimal affect all too much like... zombies. But they aren’t zombies. They’re distracted pedestrians.
 
The National Transportation Safety Board made headlines last week when it suggested a federal ban on texting while driving. Is our next public safety concern related to walking? 
 
New data (pdf) from another safety group, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, shows a 4 percent rise in pedestrian fatalities, and a 19 percent spike in injuries.  It’s too soon to know what’s behind this — whether it’s cell phones or texting… or if it’s even a trend. But there is anecdotal data about distracted pedestrians.

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A pair uses their cell phones while taking a walk in Seattle. The WalkSafe app might help prevent them from falling in the water. (wonderlane via Flickr)

While the smartphone, with its numerous and wondrous applications, allows us to access so much right at our fingertips, it also serves as a major distraction.
 
Well, there’s an app for that now.
 
The Smartphone Sensing Group at Dartmouth College recently came out with the WalkSafe app for Android phones. Using the camera on the back of the phone, it detects oncoming traffic, so that when you’re crossing the street while talking on the phone, it will alert you if a car is coming toward you.
 
Andrew Campbell is a professor of computer science at Dartmouth College, and the director of the Smartphone Sensing Group. He said the WalkSafe app is one step toward making the smartphone a cognitive phone. In his vision, a phone could become a life preserver.
 
Smartphones are getting smarter. They have a number of built-in sensors &

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