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Hell in a Handbasket: German City Creates Street-Level Traffic Lights for Distracted Smartphone Users
Facebook status update: "I am about to get hit by a ca--"
When Walkmen became popular in the '80s, there were NYC news reports showing people wearing headphones and obliviously walking in front of moving vehicles. But you didn't hear about too many Walkmen-related deaths. Nowadays with smartphones, however, there are entire supercuts on YouTube—far too graphic for us to embed here—showing people walking straight into traffic while texting, then BAM, a car slams into and kills them.
Some cite Darwinism, and one could argue that the folks getting killed had it coming—but what of the faultless driver who has now had their life altered forever? What's to be done? Most municipalities don't go further than PSAs, but the German city of Augsburg is attempting to prevent "distracted walker" deaths through technology. After a 15-year-old girl lost her life for paying more attention to her phone than an oncoming tram, the city installed LED traffic lights in the ground at a highly-trafficked tram crossing. The idea is that by placing the lights down below, smartphone users wouldn't need to lift their heads.
Hell in a handbasket, folks.
If you were the omnipotent ruler of a metropolis, what would you do to solve the problem?
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This is actually really great for a lot of non-yelling-about-mullennimulz reasons. If you have a hat or an umbrella for the rain it's harder to see elevated traffic lights, also if you're shorter or use a wheelchair it's harder to see things high up especially in a crowd. Some people just aren't comfortable making eye contact so they look at their shoes. Warning lights at street level just make sense for more than just smartphone users.
"Warning lights at street level" sounds a lot more acceptable than "traffic lights for smartphone users".
Al, your examples don't make any sense. If you're in a wheelchair and people are in front of you, blocking your view of the traffic signal, why would you barrel through them and enter the crosswalk? If the light turns green (or white, in NYC's case) and bodies start moving forward, wouldn't you then see the signal and proceed?
People aren't comfortable making eye contact--what does that have to do with looking up to check a traffic signal? I'm fairly shy with strangers myself, but that has never stopped me from looking up to check a traffic signal.
Lastly, people wearing hats and umbrellas--are you kidding me? You actually consider these impediments to viewing a traffic signal? Oughtn't Portland be littered with bodies in crosswalks then?
Communication, awareness, and education is the answer. Teen pregnancies are down nationwide, and it's not from an increase in abortions. MTV's "16 and Pregnant" is being cited as the reason. Kids are watching it and learning and making better decisions as a result. If you want to fix a problem, talk about it.
Why not take advantage of the mobile device itself? Since most smartphones are equipped with both accelerometers and cameras, if it detects the individual is walking while using a messaging application, it shouldn't be hard to program the device to engage its camera to project what is on the other side of the phone onto the messaging app's screen background. When the user isn't walking while interacting with the device, it could switch to a more opaque background, improving its functionality.
The audio says that these lights are being used at only two train crossings in the city of Augsburg and are additional to the traditional lights. It is an initiative of a single city at tramway crossings and not considered for cars. Mr. Noe seems to have made additional research on the topic that is not part of this video. IMPO the context is very important in this video, specially considering Germany's street culture that is VERY different to USA's and although the majority of the interviewed people approve it, a few also comment that they hadn't even seen them or understood their purpose. One person even states that it is frightening to think that such an addiction to the smartphone exists that it is necessary to warn them before crossing the rails. Quoting Stuart Constantine: "(Additional) Warning lights at street level (for tramway crossings)" sounds a lot more acceptable than "traffic lights for smartphone users".
"It is an initiative of a single city at tramway crossings and not considered for cars. Mr. Noe seems to have made additional research on the topic that is not part of this video."
Franz--what are you talking about?
Also, we can all see what the folks are saying without understanding German; all you have to do is turn the closed captions on in the video and it's auto-translated.
Mr. Noe. You seem offended or at least questioned by my comment and I want to emphasise that that is not my intention.