Man walking and texting suddenly comes face to face with bear

The man was walking down an alleyway in California one morning when a bear was out for a stroll

Texting and walking can be dangerous to your health — especially if there is a black bear nearby.

People have fallen off docks, fallen down stairs and fallen into fountains in the past, but as seen in this video an unsuspecting man came face to face with a bear just after he looked up from his phone. He was walking in an alley in California while looking down at his phone when he looked up just for a split second, noticed the wild animal and sprinted in the opposite direction.

According to LA Weekly, a notorious bear in northern L.A. County was out for a stroll one morning after checking out people's garbage the night before. He's been known to pace the streets at night, but this time he was still out in the morning and it caused a media frenzy including the KTLA helicopter, which shot the video.

LA Weekly writes it "might be the most effective PSA against texting-while-walking in the history of the sport."

If this is the best, it definitely has some stiff competition.

Late last month a woman in Michigan fell off a pier when she was walking along it while looking down at her phone. She didn't know how close she was to the edge and tumbled into the water. Luckily, her son, husband and a bystander helped get her to a ladder.

In February, a woman was caught in the background of a live CBC broadcast falling down steps in front of a downtown Toronto office. She was looking down at her phone right before it happened.

And in January 2011, a security guard at a shopping mall released video of a woman falling into a fountain while texting and walking. The woman sued the mall for the footage being released.

These people are not alone in their trouble with walking and texting. A study conducted by researchers at Stony Brook University found people veered 60 per cent away from their straight path while texting. It also showed participants took 33 per cent longer to reach a destination when texting and walking.

As for the bear, Department of Fish and Game officials tranquilized the animal, which is estimated to weigh between 300 and 600 pounds. The L.A. County Sheriff writes they took the bear to a far away forest.

"Moving a tranquilized bear is like moving a waterbed without a frame," California Department of Fish and Game Captain Martin Wall said.