Where do you put your phone while you're riding your motorcycle? There are, generally speaking, three very common places. One is a mount on your handlebars, assuming you feel good about the vibration-damping capabilities of your phone mount. Another is a pocket somewhere in your clothing. And the third place is anywhere else that isn't the first two places.
Me, I generally don't feel good about putting it in one of my pockets. I like to have it with me when I'm riding, either because I want to listen to music, or I might want to take photos while I'm out, or in a worst-case scenario, I might need to call someone if something goes wrong. But I usually don't keep it in a pocket. Instead, I'll keep it in a bag, or in a storage compartment, or sometimes in a mount on the handlebars.
Why don't I like to put it in my pocket? Usually, it's because I'm concerned about what might happen if I crash. What if I want to use my phone to call someone in an emergency, but it's so broken that I can't? What if the phone actually serves to injure me more because it was on my person when I crashed?
And now, thanks to a new case report in the International Journal of Emergency Medicine, a brand-new phone-pocket-crash fear has been unlocked for me. The title, I think, says it all. The report is called "Genital burns caused by cell phone combustion following a motorcycle accident: a case report."
Yikes.
Also, just so you know, be careful clicking that link, because there are photos both right after the crash, and from the three-month follow-up after skin graft surgery was successfully performed to aid in recovery from the burns.
How Did This Rider Get Burned By Their Phone In A Crash?
According to the case report, the rider had their smartphone in their left front jeans pocket when they crashed at a speed of approximately 40 kilometers per hour (about 25 mph). Unfortunately for them, while the crash was at a comparatively low speed, the impact was apparently just right to cause the phone's lithium-ion battery to combust.
It burned in his pocket and resulted in third-degree burns to his, uh, bits and pieces, as our British friends would call them. I'll give you a minute to collect all that breath you just hastily hissed out in sympathy.
In case you're unfamiliar with how the burn scale used by medical professionals works, third-degree burns are "also called full-thickness burn[s]," according to the Mayo Clinic, which goes on to say that "this burn involves all the layers of skin and sometimes the fat and muscle tissue under the skin. Burned areas may be black, brown, or white. The skin may look leathery. Third-degree burns can destroy nerves, so there may be little or no pain." Small mercies.
Now, the good news here is that medical professionals were able to treat this rider for all the injuries he sustained, which consisted of those third-degree burns from his phone, as well as some facial fractures sustained in the actual crash itself. Three months post-surgery, they reported that he was back to full functionality, which is no doubt a relief to that rider.
The authors of this case report note that, to their knowledge, this is the first instance they've seen of someone burning their junk thanks to a cell phone catching fire. However, at least one other case of someone sustaining second-degree burns to other body parts thanks to a combusting cell phone battery has been reported.
They also caution that burns from other lithium-ion batteries are on the rise, which seems only logical since more and more devices that we use every day rely on those batteries. More devices with a certain type of batteries that can occasionally combust = more potential instances of folks getting burned. In other news, more matches = more fires, right?
Listen, I can't tell you what to do. You're an adult; you can make your own choices. But if you want to be extra safe, maybe don't stick your phone in your pocket while you're riding. Literally, you might want to put it anywhere else; a backpack, sling bag, or something else you wear is probably safer, just because it's further away and not held directly against your body.
