If you’re anything like me, going even a few minutes without music can seem like torture. However as it turns out, a few minutes without music blaring in your ears could actually save your life.

A recent study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore showed that serious injuries to pedestrians wearing headphones has more than tripled in just 6 years. The overwhelming majority of the accidents were caused by pedestrians being hit by vehicles, unaware of their imminent approach due to being cut-off by their music.

“Everybody is aware of the risk of cellphones and texting in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest devices and headphones in their ears,”

So said lead author Richard Lichenstein, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Sadly in many of the cases approaching vehicles were sounding their horns which pedestrians could not here leading to fatalities in more than a third of the cases.

The study was initiated almost 10 years ago when a teenager was killed while crossing railroad tracks. At the time of the accident the teen was wearing headphones and did not react to the train’s horn being repeatedly sounded.

Researchers reviewed 116 accident cases from 2004 to 2011 in which pedestrians were struck by trains or vehicles:

In 70% of the cases, they were killed. More than two-thirds of victims were male and under the age of 30. More than half of the moving vehicles involved in the accidents were trains, and nearly a third of the vehicles reported sounding a horn prior to the crash. “The increased incidence of accidents over the years closely corresponds to documented rising popularity of auditory technologies with headphones,” the university says in a statement.

So next time you set off on a little walkabout maybe ditch the headphones and enjoy the sounds of nature/the city, it could make all the difference.

[Source: USA Today]