CHAMPAIGN, Ill., March 16 (UPI) -- Older adults may put themselves at risk by multitasking activities like talking on a cellphone while crossing a street, U.S. researchers say.
Researchers at the University of Illinois found that adults ages 59 to 81 took significantly longer than college students to cross a simulated street while talking on a mobile phone and were more likely to fail to cross in the time allotted for the task, a university release reported Wednesday.
Their heightened cautiousness in initiating crossing did nothing to improve their safety, the researchers said.
In the study, 18 students ages 18 to 26 and 18 older adults crossed simulated streets of varying difficulty while either undistracted, listening to music or conversing on a hands-free cellphone.
The older adults were significantly impaired on the most challenging street-crossing tasks while engaged in a second activity, the researchers found.
"It should be noted that we have previously found that younger adults show similar performance decrements, but under much more challenging crossing conditions," lead study author Mark Neider said.
"Combined with our previous work, the current findings suggest that while all pedestrians should exercise caution when attempting to cross a street while conversing on a cellphone, older adults should be particularly careful," Neider said.
