The introduction of a secondary task in either modality (talking
or texting) was expected to be associated with differences in
vehicle detection distance and the distance at which a participant
deems the situation unsafe to cross. Previous studies have suggested
cell phone use to be detrimental to pedestrian perception
and response (e.g., Neider et al., 2010), and a competing vehicle was
found to produce a masking effect on a target vehicle (Ulrich et al.,
2014). Therefore the concurrence of a cell phone conversation (both
talking and texting) was hypothesized to result in participants A)
detecting approaching vehicle noises at shorter distances, B) deeming
a vehicle noise too close for them to safely cross the street at
shorter distances, and C) more failures to respond to vehicle stim-