Lead author Dr Matthew Timmis, senior lecturer in sport and exercise science at Anglia Ruskin, said: "We found that using a phone means we look less frequently, and for less time, at the ground, but we adapt our visual search behaviour and our style of walking so we're able to negotiate static obstacles in a safe manner.
"This results in phone users adopting a slow and exaggerated stepping action. Our findings indicate that phone users adopt a cautious approach when faced with fixed objects on the ground.
"Accidents are likely to be the result of objects suddenly appearing that phone users were not aware of, for example other pedestrians or vehicles."
The problem of text-walkers has become such a problem that cities such as Antwerp in Belgium, has introduced 'text-walking lanes' so that they do not irritate or endanger other pedestrians.
The scheme is the brainchild of a local mobile phone business, Mlab, which says many smartphones are broken in collisions between pedestrians.
China has already started segregating footpaths with special lanes for those using their phones.
Initiatives are also being introduced in a number of European countries to place fixed warnings on the ground to alert pedestrians to the presence of roads and tram tracks.
In the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, the relative amount of time spent looking at the obstacle reduced by up to 61 per cent when using a phone.
The study found that writing a text message resulted in the greatest adaptations in visual search behaviour and walking style, or gait, compared to reading texts or talking on a phone.
When writing a text the lead foot is 18 per cent higher while clearing the obstacle compared to not using a phone, and is 40 per cent slower.
Similar, but less extreme, results are seen when reading texts and talking on the phone.
It is thought that writing a text may increase visual attention demands, as people look at the keypad to type as well as look at the screen to read what is being written, to ensure it is correct.
Last year researchers at the University of Delaware found that when distracted by dialling numbers, volunteers began to walk with strange exaggerated strides, their knees bending to peak position on each step, and their ankles fully flexed, as it to give themselves as much chance as possible at stepping over tripping hazards.
The researchers say that people unconsciously adopt the posture because their body senses that they are at greater risk of falling over.
The large, exaggerated movements potentially help them to negotiate crowds and compensate for their diminished vision.
The University of Bath also recently found that texters had developed a protective shuffle that prevents them bumping into obstacles, or tripping over hazards.
They discovered that it took those texting 26 per cent longer to complete a walking task compared to those who were not distracted by their phones.
