The number of accidents involving pedestrians   wearing headphones is on the rise , a report suggests, causing fresh warning from road safety groups in Britain . A US-based study found a total of 116 reports of death or injury to pedestrians wearing headphones between 2004 and 2011 , jumping from 16 in 2005 to 47 in 2011 . Most victims were men (68%) and under the age of 30 (67%) , with around one in ten of all cases (9%) under the age of 18 .Some 89% of the cases occurred in urban areas and more than half (55%) of the victims were struck by trains . Eighty-one of the 116 accidents (70%) resulted in the person's death--- even though a warning was sounded in around a third of the cases . The study concluded , " The use of headphone may be a safety risk to pedestrians , especially in environments with moving vehicles(cars) . Further research is needed to determine if and how headphone use threatens pedestrian safety ." British road safety groups warned pedestrians to be careful. Floor Lieshout , director of Youth For Road Safety , said, " This study shows once more the importance of using all of our senses while we are near traffic . It is important that we find an attractive way to make youth learn about the risks of wearing headphones in traffic ." Andrew Howard , who is the head of road safety at the Automobile Association , added that some pedestrians can be "so focused in their own little world they forget the world going on around them".That can include headphone wearers , Howard said, but also people talking on phones. However , Howard said that more researches needed to be done. Earlier studies have shown that people wearing headphones or talking on phones can suffer "inattentional blindness" which makes them isolated   from the world around them . Ian Harvey , at the charity Civic Voice , said that " to defeat isolation and to help build a civic  society , people need to interact  with each other . He said , " A basis for any civilized society is communication--- Surfing the web , listening to MP3s , reading blogs or sending e-mail is not interacting with a person; it's interacting with a machine. "If people feel socially isolated , they need to have more face-to-face interactions with other human beings and in time , will begin to feel happier and more connected to the world and place they live in ." What Lan Harvey said shows the importance of   _   .
beating isolation communication between people building a civilized society new technologies