Texting pedestrians have become such a big problem in two German cities that they have installed upward-facing traffic lights in the sidewalk to make it safer to send and check texts while walking. Cologne installed the lighting system in the ground in 2011 then Augsburg recently added the red lights to the pavement at two busy train stations in the southern city. Each high-tech light has a price tag of about $11,300.
The lights are red like standard stop signals, according to BBC. This allows people who are looking down at their mobile phones to see when they should stop walking.
City planners thought about where "smombies" (smartphone zombies) often use their handsets while walking. City spokesperson Stephanie Lerman explains they then installed the lights in those places.
Some Augsburg residents have complained about the sky-high cost of the special traffic lights. However, Augsburg municipal service's spokesman Jurgen Fergg argues that the cost is worth the major damage they can prevent, according to CNN.
In March a 19-year-old man was seriously injured when he walked into the path of a train. He was wearing headphones at the time. Fergg shares that other German cities have had deadly accidents caused by distracted walkers.
It seems the easiest solution would be to get pedestrians to look up from their smartphone screens. However, distracted pedestrians have still become a major problem in recent years.
A 2013 study by Ohio State University (OSU) learned about the number of people who were injured while walking and using their cellular phones more than doubled between the years 2005 to 2010. During that time period over 1,500 city walkers were admitted to hospital emergency rooms.
OSU professor Jack Nasar wrote that it is likely the number of injuries involving cell phone-using pedestrians doubled between 2010 and 2015.
In related news, an Uber driver who suffered major injuries after a car crash is suing messaging app Snapchat. He claims that the distracted river that hit his vehicle on a Georgia highway near Atlanta was using the mobile app when the car accident happened.
Wentworth Maynard's lawyers claim the at-fault driver was using Snapchat's miles-per-hour filter and trying to reach 100 miles per hour. The smartphone app overlays the user's speed over a photo or video.
Here's a report on walking and texting: