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City Installs Traffic Lights In Sidewalks For Smartphone Users (washingtonpost.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the watch-your-step dept.

tlhIngan writes: It's finally happened -- the smartphone zombies are here. The German city of Augsburg installed traffic lights in the sidewalks so smartphone users don't have to look up. Apparently people are so addicted to their smartphones they can't be bothered to look up at traffic signals, so embedding them in the ground they don't have to. According to the Washington Post report, the city spokeswoman Stephanie Lermen thinks the money used to install the lights is well spent. A recent survey conducted in several European cities including Berlin, found that almost 20 percent of pedestrians were distracted by their smartphones. Of course, younger people are at higher risk as they're willing to risk their safety to look at their Facebook profiles or WhatsApp messages, the survey found. The problem may be even worse in the U.S: A survey by the University of Washington found that 1 in 3 Americans is busy texting or working on a smartphone at dangerous road crossings. City officials say installing the traffic lights is justified: The idea is to install such traffic lights came after a 15-year-old girl was killed by a tram. According to police reports, she was distracted by her smartphone as she crossed the tracks.

4 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Isn't this a self-correcting problem? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Won't this problem fix itself after a while?

    1. Re:Isn't this a self-correcting problem? by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Won't this problem fix itself after a while?

      I was thinking the same thing....what a wonderful opportunity to see natural selection at work, in real time.

      I think one of the reasons we're seeing so many inept and stupid people out there (and c'mon, you gotta admit you see them every day)...is that we've been protecting people from themselves WAAAAY too much, and have prevented nature from adding chlorine to the gene pool at appropriate times.

      As the previous post alluded to...let nature take care of this situation itself.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  2. #zombielivesmatter by known_coward_69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    because the phone zombies want to live too

  3. Re:Use an app instead by rmdingler · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The problem with this sort of conditioning is that it desensitizes the user even further to the world around him.

    When exceptions are made that do not penalize risky behavior, it encourages more risky behavior, perhaps in an environment without any protection.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway