Distracted smartphone users are alerted when it is safe to cross the road, after a pilot traffic light system was launched in a German city. It embedded rows of LEDs into the pavement. They flash red when the crossing is closed to pedestrians. According to German television station, it became necessary after a 15-year-old girl, who was wearing earbuds and looking at her smartphone, was killed when she stepped in front of a tram.
"We have the additional lamps installed on two crossings that are especially frequented by the relevant target group," said the city's spokesperson.
The first two pavement traffic lights have been installed near the local university. They are aimed particularly at young people and commuters, who tend to be too consumed by their smartphones to look up at the conventional traffic lights system.
US lawmakers take a different approach and seek to ban texting while walking, because distracted walking leads to falls, and 9% "strike a motionless object."
Showing posts with label Pedestrian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pedestrian. Show all posts
May 6, 2016
Sep 28, 2013
Wordology, Jaywalking
For those not familiar with this
term, such as many people outside of the United States, jaywalking
means a pedestrian crosses a street without regard to traffic
regulations.
For instance, depending on where one lives, it may be against the law to cross a street where there is a crosswalk nearby, but the person chooses not to use it. Alternatively even at a crosswalk, it is often illegal to cross if there is a “Don’t Walk” signal flashing.
Contrary to popular belief, the term jaywalking does not derive from the shape of the letter J. It comes from the fact that “Jay” used to be a generic term for someone who was dull, rube, unsophisticated, poor, or a simpleton.
To Jaywalk was to be stupid by crossing the street in an unsafe place or way, or some person visiting the city who was not familiar with the rules of the road for pedestrians in an urban environment. As stated in the January 25, 1937 New York Times, “In many streets like Oxford Street, for instance, the jaywalker wanders complacently in the very middle of the roadway as if it was a country lane.”
For instance, depending on where one lives, it may be against the law to cross a street where there is a crosswalk nearby, but the person chooses not to use it. Alternatively even at a crosswalk, it is often illegal to cross if there is a “Don’t Walk” signal flashing.
Contrary to popular belief, the term jaywalking does not derive from the shape of the letter J. It comes from the fact that “Jay” used to be a generic term for someone who was dull, rube, unsophisticated, poor, or a simpleton.
To Jaywalk was to be stupid by crossing the street in an unsafe place or way, or some person visiting the city who was not familiar with the rules of the road for pedestrians in an urban environment. As stated in the January 25, 1937 New York Times, “In many streets like Oxford Street, for instance, the jaywalker wanders complacently in the very middle of the roadway as if it was a country lane.”
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