What time did the train leave the station?
Just kidding. It is the responsibility of the person/people who are otherwise occupied to make sure they aren’t a hazard to other people. Sadly, many people do not realize this. If 2 people are reading or whatever and they collide, it’s both of their faults and they both deserve whatever scrapes they get.
I agree with congodwarf. If either of them get bent out of shape that they had a minor bump with a fellow human, then they should accept that they have sticks far enough up their asses that they don’t get to be the kind of laid back cats that can walk and read. Right? Those kind of folks should be able to shake it off and laugh and say, ‘oh, excuse me!’.
Now, if I bump into someone when I’m reading, and they aren’t reading, then I’m going to get super serious really fast, beg forgiveness and offer to pay for dry cleaning regardless of whether or not I spilled a drink.
But I don’t read and walk.
Depends on the weight. I can easily read magazines or newspapers while walking but hardcover books tire my hands.
When I was a kid, I used to have to walk about a mile to get to/home from the public library, and of course, I had books with me that I wanted to read. I occasionally tried reading while I walked, but it didn’t really work. Believe me, if I could have, I would’ve. I found walking rather boring, and unfortunately, this was before the Walkman, let alone the mp3 player, came along.
Speaking only for myself, I like to listen to audiobooks (or some such) when I go out walking. I do pay attention to “the outside world”—I like looking at the houses, the trees, the people, etc. I’m certainly not distracted from it; I don’t “pretend it’s not there.” But just looking at my surroundings isn’t enough to engage my mind. It’s not enough to keep me from being bored out of my mind if I don’t have anything to listen to and think about.
I’ve done it since childhood.
Yup. I do it fairly often. The trick is to hold the book up a little ways so you can flick your eyes over the top of it every few seconds to avoid open trenches, dogs and less-literate pedestrians. It’s not the best way to read, but it’ll get you a few more pages in while you’re getting to the next spot you can sit down with your book.
Yeah, I’ve done it. I make sure to stop when I’m crossing the road though.
No, just dull. Ooo, look, a tree! And a fence! And even concrete!! Bleah. It’s not like I live next to the Grand Canyon or Painted Desert or something else especially interesting to look at.
Hey, walking down the sidewalk is practically a competitive sport where I live.
People who read/text while walking obliviously down crowded sidewalks are hazards to themselves & others.
I’m with Der Trihs. Plus, even the most exciting location gets boring day after day. I try to switch up my routine when I’m walking home, but it’s still a bit dull after a while.
Yes. Almost everyday.
I take the tube to work and have to walk 15 min from the station. Am never without a book in hand. I read when am in the tube and continue to do so till I reach my office.
Its not that hard and I haven’t bumped into anyone, yet!
:smack: Relative of yours?
Yeah, I don’t ever really get bored even with the routes I’ve been over every day for years. There’s always something new to see. When my mind is working correctly I’m absorbing it all in a sort of Zen way. When my mind is working incorrectly I’m sorting out a bazillion random thoughts.
I can’t even imagine getting bored with walking.
I do it during breaks at work. The building I work in has an asphalt walking path around it about a half mile long. When I need a break, I usually print a couple of articles from political opinion sites I enjoy and take them along. I fold the pages in half to 5.5 by 8.5, and manage to read and navigate at the same time without difficulty. The route is familiar, fairly obstacle-free, and not used by very many others. The frequent walkers know about me. 
I’ve tried reading while doing just about everything, but as tdn says, it makes for a suboptimal reading experience. I don’t get to do enough reading, and dammit, I want a chair and some reasonable peace.
I trip up and crash into things when I’m walking without reading. The last thing I’m going to do is completely eliminate what little of my concentration is already active.
I do sometimes at home, when I’m reading a particularly good book and am just going from one room to the next. However, I wouldn’t do it on a sidewalk. That seems unsafe. I don’t even use an iPod if I’m walking or running outside.
If I’m walking slowly on the treadmill (something I sometimes do if I’m really unmotivated to exercise, but really need to), I might read. But I always feel somewhat unsatisfied afterward. When I pay attention to my workout, I feel like I’ve done something; when I read, I don’t feel like I’ve done anything, even if it was a great feat to get on the thing in the first place.
I don’t do this anymore, but I did it constantly for many years of my life as a child and teenager, and was known around my (small) town for it.
Somehow I never had problems with stepping in things/tripping/walking into traffic, etc. I could see where I was going.
Gah! My brother does that! Thank G-d he lives in another state.
I walk and read frequently, and have done so since I was walking to and from school. When I walk on the treadmills at the gym I often read a book.
I used to read while walking, and I think the only reason I stopped was because when I got my own place it was in a busier neighborhood which required that I pay more attention to where I was walking.