Chinese City Sets Up ‘No Cell Phone’ Pedestrian Lanes. Pedestrians in
China can walk and text without
bothering anybody with a new 100 foot "cellphone lane."
Chinese
pedestrians in Chongqing can walk and text in new cellphone sidewalks. The
Chongqing phone lane mirrors bicycle lanes that separate vehicle lanes and bike
lanes. The mobile phone sidewalk is also similar to the lanes created on 18th Street
in Washington, DC. These lanes were painted in July by the National Geographic
TC channel for a crowd behavior experiment. But the experiment found that
pedestrians in Washington, DC just ignored the lane.
"Cell phones,
walk in this lane at your own risk," a sign in one of the non-cellphone
lanes in Chongqing reads. The adjacent lane separated by a white double line
reads, "no cell phones."
In 2012,
Philadelphia, PA announced an "e-lane" for phone users that turned
out to be an April fools joke. The prank was created to raise awareness on a
serious public safety issue.
The Chinese city
may not be pranking pedestrians. Local officials reportedly made the cellphone
lanes to remind people "it is best not to play with your phone while
walking." They also posted large signs announcing the "First mobile
phone sidewalk in China," along with a diagram showing pedestrians how to
use the street. But the new mobile lane probably won't be making major
breakthroughs in urban safety seeing as it is located in a theme park and not a
major city street in Chongqing.
Recently, the U.S.
has also made small efforts to address the public safety issue. The Utah
Transit Authority can issue people a $50 fine for distracted walking in the
cavity of trains.
Distracted walking
injuries in the U.S. are on the rise, since texting anytime, anywhere has
become the new norm. 1,506 emergency room visits were recorded in 2010,
compared to only 256 in 2005.
