Now, like most of you, I’ve been tempted to blast through the speed limit whenever my iPod shuffles on to the ‘Miami Vice’ theme. However, being the law abiding – and only recently qualified to drive – citizen that I am, I try to concentrate on the road and leave the tunes running quietly in the background.

However, it appears that many motorists, and indeed pedestrians, are prone to falling into ‘iPod oblivion’, causing numerous accidents and injuries. The Telegraph reports that the AA in the UK has said it has seen a number of incidents recently where motorists were “so plugged in to music in their cars that they drive inattentively”.

AA president Edmund King said: ”We can’t stop the march of technology but we need to halt the ‘iPod pedestrian, cycle and driver zombies’. Whether on two feet, two wheels or four, too many people are suffering from so-called ‘iPod oblivion’.”

He continued, ”When on the move our brains have much to take in and using technological gadgets means that our brains can’t always concentrate on so many things at once. This is when we walk into traffic, don’t hear the truck, or drive cocooned from the outside world.’

AA patrol staff have apparently noticed a marked increase in pedestrians seemingly oblivious to the traffic as they cross busy roads. These ”podestrians” can sometimes be spotted checking their emails as they contend with passing cars. Pedestrian inattention could be the cause of 17 collisions a day in the UK and that crashes of this kind have increased 5% in the last year, according to the AA’s research.

We await Gay Byrne’s opinion on iPods with interest.