Phrase: distracted walking (hypothesized cause of pedestrian deaths)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

LH wrote:
> ABC World News Tonight also had a segment on recently about
> the hazards of "drunk walking".  Apparently 40% or so of pedestrian
> fatalities (I don't recall the details) involve pedestrians with a blood
> alcohol level over the limit for driving.  We can add that to "drunk
> dialing" (which I first noticed when it was referenced in the movie
> "Sideways").

Drunk walking was compared to drunk driving in 2011 in a Freakonomics podcast.

Article title: The Perils of Drunk Walking: A New Marketplace Podcast
Author: Diana Huynh
Date: December 28, 2011
http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/12/28/the-perils-of-drunk-walking/

[Begin excerpt]
In our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast, Stephen
Dubner looks at why the first decision you make in 2012 can be riskier
than you think. (Download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed,
listen via the media player above, or read the transcript.)

The risks of driving drunk are well-established; it’s an incredibly
dangerous thing to do, and produces massive collateral damage as well.
So if you have a bit too much to drink over the holiday and think
you’ll do the smart thing and walk home instead — well, that’s not so
smart after all. Steve Levitt has compared the risk of drunk walking
with drunk driving and found that the former can potentially pose a
greater risk:

LEVITT: For every mile walked drunk, turns out to be eight times more
dangerous than the mile driven drunk. To put it simply, if you need to
walk a mile from a party to your home, you’re eight times more likely
to die doing that than if you jump behind the wheel and drive your car
that same mile.
[End excerpt]

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