A new study into pedestrian accident fatalities is blaming one common piece of equipment for the recent increase in pedestrian deaths in Pittsburgh and throughout the country: headphones. Researchers believe that young people are especially susceptible to the fatal injuries that can easily occur when a walker or bicyclist is not able to hear the horn of an oncoming car, train or other motor vehicle.

Specifically, the crash study found, serious or fatal injuries to walkers or bicyclists who are listening to headphones at the time of pedestrian accidents have more than tripled in the past six years. In more than two-thirds of the accidents studied, the pedestrians suffered fatal, life-ending injuries.

The study was completed through a review of more than 115 car accidents that took place between 2004 and 2011 in which pedestrians were struck by cars, trains, or other motor vehicles. In 70 percent of the accidents studied, the pedestrian was killed.

More than two-thirds of the pedestrian accident victims were males under the age of 30, a demographic that is likely to be listening to headphones while walking or bicycling. "The increased incidence of accidents over the years closely corresponds to documented rising popularity of auditory technologies with headphones," researchers said.

This belief was reinforced by additional statistics that were uncovered in the study. About half of the vehicles involved in the pedestrian accidents were trains, researchers found, and one-third of the drivers or operators reported that they had sounded their vehicle's horn prior to the crash.

Source: USA Today, "Study: More headphone-wearing walkers hit by cars," Chris Woodyard, Jan. 17, 2012