Train Struck Florida Woman Who Texted While Walking, Cops Say

While the dangers of texting and driving are well documented, it seems texting while walking can be hazardous to one’s health, as well.

At least that was the case in Lakeland Monday when a 27-year-old woman managed to walk into the path of an oncoming freight train along Kentucky Avenue. The incident unfolded around 3:15 p.m. as witnesses watched Sheena Keynna walk around the down crossing gates and into the train as it made its way through the town, the Panama City News Herald reported.

Keynna was so involved in her conversation, she “wasn’t paying attention,” Sgt. Gary Gross of the Lakeland Police Department was quoted by the paper as saying.

Keynna was ultimately clipped by the train, tossed into the air and suffered an injury to her leg and a compound fracture of her right arm, Bay News 9 reported. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

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The snafu closed a number of streets in Lakeland as police worked the scene, the Lakeland agency reported on its Facebook page. Train traffic was also halted for a time Monday afternoon, Bay News 9 noted.

Texting while walking is becoming a growing concern for medical professionals as the number of injuries attributed to this behavior rise.

“While talking on the phone is a distraction, texting is much more dangerous because you can’t see the path in front of you,” Dr. Dietrich Jehle, a professor of emergency medicine at the University at Buffalo, was quoted by the school as stating. Jehle, the school’s media release noted, believes cell phone-related injuries may account for as many as 10 percent of the tens of thousands of pedestrian-related accidents treated in American emergency rooms annually. An Ohio State University study found those most at risk for cell phone-related injuries while trying to walk are between the ages of 16 and 25, the press released noted.

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