Texting menace

Doctors in America have warned mobile texters that constant mobile phone use will make them prone to accidents.

People who think they can text-message while walking, driving or biking are a public safety hazard, says the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).
An increase in injuries and deaths related to distracted texters across the U.S. led the college to issue a warning last week.

In a statement Dr. Linda Lawrence, said:

“Her colleagues across the U.S. are reporting cases among teens and young adults, in particular, who are arriving in emergency departments with serious and sometimes fatal injuries, because they were not paying attention while texting.”
In San Francisco, doctors reported a young woman was killed by a pickup truck earlier this year when she stepped off a curb while texting.

Her death came on the heels of another fatality last year in California, in which a man was struck crossing the road while talking to his wife on his mobile phone.
The warning comes at the same time as The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy announced that up to one in six texters are left in pain because they fire off so many messages.

Symptoms include aches and strains in the hands, wrists, arms, shoulders and neck.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy said 16 per cent of 16 to 24 year-olds have had TMI or Text Message Injury.
212 million texts a day are now sent in the UK. Up a third on last year.