Fatalities While Wearing Headphones Have Tripled

Ben Stiller, setting a bad example for joggers everywhere.

More Gadgets Means More Distractions ... Even In Traffic

When you go for a morning run, do you blast Huey Lewis loud enough to drown out everything around you? If so, you might want to think about this: fatalities and major injuries to people wearing headphones has skyrocketed in the past decade.

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Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine found there were 116 traffic accidents involving pedestrians reported from 2004 - 2011, with 84 of them resulting in a death.

However, it's the increasing trend that has music-lover's and safety experts alike worried -- the number of cases during the periods 2004-2005 and 2010-2011 TRIPLED, from 16 to 47.

The study found that at least half of the victims were hit by trains, while the other half were struck by cars, buses, bicycles and trailers.

While the average age was 21 years old and approximately 68% of them were male, every one of the victims had something in common: they were all wearing headphones.

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"You'd be hard-pressed not to look out the window and see people walking around with headphones," said Dr. Richard Lichenstein, the study's lead author. "People probably had it with growing up - not to the extent that we see now."

And with everyone sporting their own iPhone buds or snazzy Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, the chances of being distracted by music and unable to hear honking cars or whistling trains are at an all-time high.

And it could be even worse. The study's researchers believe their report is just "the tip of the iceberg," as a large portion of pedestrian traffic accidents go unreported.

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