Most Chicago residents have seen it - someone walks down the street, bobbing their head as they listen to some music on their cell phone. The popularity of portable music devices has turned the walk home from work into a personalized concert for quite a few pedestrians.

Well a new pedestrian accident study done by the University of Maryland shows the dangers of wearing headphones and turning up the tunes when vehicles are around. According to the report, serious injuries suffered by headphone-wearing pedestrians when struck by a vehicle have more than tripled in six years.

The School of Medicine at the University of Maryland began the study after a teenager was struck down by a train. Because the teen was wearing headphones, he could not hear the train's horn trying to alert him of his surroundings.

The study took cases spanning eight years, from 2004 to 2011, and reviewed 116 incidents of pedestrian accidents where the victim wore headphones. An alarming amount of the victims died in the accidents (70%), and a large percentage - roughly two-thirds - of the pedestrians who were hit by vehicles were under the age of 30. Maybe surprisingly to some, over half of the cases involved a train.

The study was done by an associate professor of pediatrics at the school, and he shared a warning for those who turn up the tunes while walking the streets. "Everybody is aware of the risk of cell phones and texting in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest devices and headphones in their ears," he said.

Inattentiveness can lead to serious injuries when you are around fast-moving vehicles. Should you be involved in an auto-pedestrian accident, you do not have to suffer in silence. Consult an experienced legal representative to discuss your situation.

Source: USA Today, "Study: More headphone-wearing walkers hit by cars," Chris Woodyard, Jan. 17, 2012