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Wearing headphones while walking can be a risky business, new research from the University of Maryland suggests. In a study published in the journal Injury Prevention, researchers looked at reported pedestrian-vehicle collisions in which the pedestrian was wearing headphones - either the cover-the-whole-ear variety or ear buds. They found 116 reports of death or injury under such circumstances between 2004 and 2011.

Eighty-one of the collisions resulted in the headphone-wearer's death.

Most of the accidents (59 percent) took place in urban areas.

In 34 of the 116 cases, reports mentioned that horns or sirens had been sounded before the victim was struck.