Mobile phones, those funny devices that used to be the domain of yuppies and annoyed those looking for a quiet dinner out, now we can’t get by in life with out one.

The expectation is you’re now available 24/7 and your smart phone will substitute all manner of thinking requirements.

We’ve heard plenty about mobile phones and driving, yet people still hold their phone while driving. No, holding it in your hand on speaker phone is not hands free ;) ahh, it’s still in your hand!

Though, they are causing all manner of distractions, and my couple of weeks driving an electric vehicle highlighted this, as I nearly mowed down at least 6 or 7 ambling pedestrians.

Why? Because they were relying on their hearing, with ear phones in, to tell them of an oncoming vehicle before stepping off the curb into harms way.

They all were very surprised with the horn that jolted them out of their trance. Strangely some of them didn’t appreciate it, I wonder if they would have appreciated being run over more?

That said this came through in one of my social media streams, WARNING while it is YouTube it is a bit graphic, but brings to your attention the dangers of walking and mobile phones. YouTube Video - Pedestrian Mobile Phones There are more on mobiles and driving if you want to keep hunting.

So what’s my point?

I had a discussion with an A&E doctor recently about mobile phone injuries, some of which come through and are quite interesting how people get themselves into situations.

I sat back on this and thought, we hear about the two situations above, what about mobile phones when a vehicle is not involved?

Ahh this might be interesting, and it was.

I managed to track down the information from ACC, easier than I thought, but it still took some time.

I asked for 12 months, keep it simple, of ACC non-motor vehicle claims which gave 204 new claims and 214 active claims. A new claim could be an active claim but an active claim may not be a new claim, so there’s possibility of duplication by adding them together, as it may be an older claim that is getting paid by ACC.

Caveat on this, this is where a mobile phone was mentioned in the accident injury report. If it wasn’t mentioned then it wasn’t captured, so the data could be a little skewed and not completely scientific. But that’s not why I asked for it.

Interesting the number of injuries male to female was disproportionately weighted to the girls 2 to 1. I guess the guys don’t like fronting up on the reason as much as the girls do, as I don’t believe the guys are half as clumsy. Accident disability stats suggest the complete opposite is true.

That said the break down by age makes for interesting reading as this is less likely to be skewed. Pretty consistent numbers of claims through the 20-60 age groups, cost wise it’s a little more variable.

What was striking and rather surprising, if you’re a girl under the age of 17, while your chance of injury is the highest, the cost (and thus the severity) of the treatment is the lowest. 32 new injuries and $137 average treatment cost.

The boys of the same age group however are a stark contrast, as the worst for cost of injury. Fourth equal by number of new injuries (30-39 & 40-49 females) but first by treatment cost. If you’re a boy under 17 be careful, as your mobile phone injuries are probably painful. 17 New injuries and an average of $2,286 per injury.

Next on the cost of treatment list is the other end of the scale, older ladies 60+. Being third equal with 50-59 ladies for number of new claims, but a marked difference in treatment costs, $1,175 for the 60+ and $389 for 50-59. Age definitely has an impact on cost of injuries.

What’s strange is the second cheapest cost of injuries is the 17-20 male group, with only 5 injuries and $140 cost of claim, it may be that this group isn’t included due to the non-vehicle filter on the report.

Where’s the interesting spike? In the 20-29 males with cost of treatment being third most expensive at $868 and the middle age females 30-50 with the 30-39’s costing $653 to treat and the 40-49’s less with $547.

An interesting exercise in the less meaningful, though demonstrability one of us being asked a question and finding the answers. Dry as mobile phone stats seem; most people think the same of policy wordings.

Now look up and make sure you’re not getting run over :)

The stats I've used if you've got this far! *source ACC