Augsburg's (Germany) Answer To Texting While Walking: Traffic Lights Embedded Into The Walkway

Texting While Walking? These In-Ground Traffic Lights Should Get Your Attention

Lulu Chang | April 27, 2016

Can’t make them come up to you? Go down to them. Such is the logic behind Germany’s new traffic lights, which see distracted pedestrians and chronic texters, and raise them traffic lights that they just can’t miss. It’s an interesting way of combating an international smartphone addiction, adopting street safety signs with the times rather than trying to fight the onslaught of near-ubiquitous mobile technology. Officials in the city of Augsburg have now embedded lights directly into the sidewalk, so that even if you’re looking down at your screen, you’ll (hopefully) notice whether the light is green or red.

Source: twitter.com: buildtracks.com ‏@buildtracks. Apr 27. Traffic lights installed in pavement for ppl who cross road glued to mobile phones #smombie http://bit.ly/1WRwH0L

Source: Paul Furnival ‏@PaulFurnival A nice piece of lateral thinking http://ow.ly/4njv3i. Don't be a #smombie

<more at http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/german-traffic-lights-combat-distracted-pedestrians/; related articles and links: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/25/this-city-embedded-traffic-lights-in-the-sidewalks-so-that-smartphone-users-dont-have-to-look-up/ (This city embedded traffic lights in the sidewalks so that smartphone users don’t have to look up. April 25, 2016) and http://www.techinsider.io/a-german-city-uses-sidewalk-lights-to-protect-texters-2016-4 (A German city embedded traffic lights in its sidewalks to protect distracted texters. April 29, 2016); further: see earlier post at: http://bibliobytes.blogspot.com/2016/03/new-crime-texting-while-walking-new.html (March 29, 2016)>