A woman fell into a river connected to Lake Michigan while she was attempting to walk along a pier and send a text message at the same time. She was strolling along the pier with her family and realized that she had to correct an appointment time via a text message. As she was writing the text message, she didn’t pay attention to how close she was to the edge of the pier and ending up tripping into approximately six feet of cold water. her husband and a bystander jumped into the water to help her reach a ladder that led back to the top of the pier. A police officer also used a flotation device attached to a rope to help guide the group to the ladder.
While definitely embarrassed by the incident, she wants people to understand how texting while walking can be a problem. In an interview she stated “I couldn’t let pride stand in my way of warning other people to not drive and text or walk and text. It can be dangerous.”
Earlier this year, a research about texting while walking found that participants consistently veered away from walking a straight path by a 60 percent deviation.
