German Town Installs Ground Traffic Lights for People Looking at Their Smartphones – IOTW Report

German Town Installs Ground Traffic Lights for People Looking at Their Smartphones

Enablers.

germany iphone traffic lights

Oddity Central: While zombies thankfully still remain a figment of our imagination, ‘smombies’ – people walking while staring at their smartphones – are very real and a growing cause for concern. Fed up of having to constantly alert both locals an tourists to pay more attention to their surroundings to avoid serious accidents, authorities in a small German town have come up with a more proactive solution – embedding traffic lights in the pavement to make them visible to people constantly looking down at their phones.

The seemingly ridiculous safety measure was put in place after two pedestrians in the town of Augsburg were recently hit by quiet electric street trains as they crossed the street without looking up from their phones.  more

15 Comments on German Town Installs Ground Traffic Lights for People Looking at Their Smartphones

  1. I really want to know what is so utterly important in people’s lives that they fail to notice their surroundings when they are so absorbed in their electronic devices? I’ve happened to see a few people’s screens coincidentally, and believe me, President Obama is not sharing secrets of the national defense with these clowns. The messages are usually an incomprehensible melange of trite sentiments and weird abbreviations…..

    LOL U’RE MY BFF OMG HERE COMES A CAR……

  2. I got tired of people not paying attention. I picked up one of these. Everyone now walks around in anger, shaking their phones as if shaking it will help, my mission wasn’t accomplished. You can put a literal brick in the hands of some of these people and it will get all the attention.

  3. So, Eternal, that’s interesting.

    “Such an offer to sell can only be made by an official Homeland Security Strategies Inc. proforma invoice signed by an authorized agent of HSS and conform to ITAR and the US Code of Federal Regulations, as specified above.”

    Does that means you are approved by Homeland Security to get one?

    I’ve been told for years it’s against the law for private citizens to jam others’ cell phones. Are you in a Gov agency related to intel?

  4. Some guy was using a jammer on the CTA line. It took a few months but they finally caught him. He was sitting with the device out in the open, as if he couldn’t find some way to conceal the jammer.

    The constant use and ignorance of many cell phone users is nothing new. 15 years ago while commuting by train I too thought about getting a jammer. Especially back then, nobody texted, they just kept yelling into their phones.

  5. @Dadof4: I don’t think Homeland Security Strategies, Inc. is the same thing as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but rather a private firm that sells ECM&D equipment. I’m guessing that HSS would be happy to approve of your buying one, as long as you don’t plan on reselling it overseas without government approval (as their notice points out). I could be reading it wrong, though.

    🙂

  6. Vietvet

    Yes, that makes sense. I should know better. We have a “Homeland Security” private security firm here.

    First glance is a bit weird seeing it on the side of a car.

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