Letter of the day

From the NY Times:

Thank you for your article about cellphone-addicted pedestrians.
I am a disabled woman who walks with the aid of two canes. Just recently, I was leaving my local train station, and a man, talking animatedly on his cellphone, kicked one of my canes as he rushed past. I bobbled badly but managed not to fall. I found the man outside the station still talking. I tapped him on the shoulder several times, and when he took no notice, I yelled, “You kicked my cane and I nearly fell!”
His irritated response? “I can’t talk now. Can’t you see I’m on the phone?”
Stephanie Patterson
Collingswood, N.J., Jan. 17, 2010

This letter was in response to a NY Times story on pedestrians being distracted because of cellphones; excerpt:

Slightly more than 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 because they got distracted and tripped, fell or ran into something while using a cellphone to talk or text. That was twice the number from 2007, which had nearly doubled from 2006, according to a study conducted by Ohio State University, which says it is the first to estimate such accidents.
“It’s the tip of the iceberg,” said Jack L. Nasar, a professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State, noting that the number of mishaps is probably much higher considering that most of the injuries are not severe enough to require a hospital visit. What is more, he said, texting is rising sharply and devices like the iPhone have thousands of new, engaging applications to preoccupy phone users.