Nearly everywhere one turns pedestrians have headphones on. According to recent research, this trend may be the reason that injuries to this group of pedestrians have tripled in the last seven years.

The study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland found that pedestrians wearing headphones while using MP3 players and iPods are less aware of their surroundings such as traffic. Researchers used information from Google, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the U.S. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. Between January 2004 and June 2011, in total, 116 accidents involving pedestrians wearing headphones were uncovered.

According to an associate professor of pediatrics in Pediatric Emergency Medicine Research at the University of Maryland Children's Hospital, the lead researcher in the study, pedestrians wearing headphones are being struck by a variety of motor vehicles including vans, trucks, buses and cars. Some are also being hit by trains.

In the first year of the study, from 2004-2005, only 16 incidents were reported. Six years later, in the course of 2010-2011, that number had almost tripled to 47. As most would probably expect, the age of a majority of the victims is under 30 years of age.

Perhaps not surprisingly, many of these accidents have resulted in the pedestrian sustaining injuries of varying degrees. Because pedestrians have no protection compared to the motor vehicle passengers, the injuries are often catastrophic and sometimes fatal. The study indicated that close to 70 percent of the accidents resulted in death. In more than half of those occasions, the pedestrian is hit by a train.

Source: HealthDay News, "Injuries to Pedestrians Wearing Headphones Tripled Since 2004," Steven Reinberg, Jan. 17, 2012