People sending text messages in the centre of the Belgian city of Antwerp have been provided with dedicated temporary "text walking lanes" so that they do not collide with pedestrians.
The initiative - some would say publicity stunt - is the brainchild of a smartphone store based in the city. It says that a significant number of mobile phone breakages happen because of "text walking" collisions. There are now believed to be more mobile phones in the world than people.
Figures released by mobile operators and associated companies show that there are about 7.5 billion mobiles in the world, compared to a world population estimated to be 7.2 billion by the US Census Bureau. The "text walking lanes" may become permanent fixtures
"You probably walk through the streets while texting or sending Whatsapp messages to your friends and don't really pay attention to your surroundings - only to whatever is happening on your screen," a spokesman for Mlab, a smart phone laboratory based in Antwerp, was quoted by Yahoo News as saying.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Nesh on Tuesday June 23 2015, @02:47PM
instead of giving these people valuable public space, why not organise 'text walker tipping' contests. (https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Cow_tipping/ [wikipedia.org]) ?