Looking at your smartphone while driving is definitely not a good idea, and it’s not hard to understand why it is illegal. However, directing all of your attention to your favorite gadget while crossing the street is also quite dangerous, which is why officials from a German city named Augsburg have decided to implement a series of warning lights in the pavement at traffic intersections in order to encourage people to look up while crossing the road. It looks like the decision was taken after a 15-year-old girl was killed by a tram because she stepped in front of it while looking at her smartphone and listening to music.
The warning lights consist of bright red LEDs, which have been installed at two tram stops near the local university. If they prove to be successful in preventing accidents, the city may install them at other intersections as well. People who keep starting at their phones while walking around are called “smombies” in Germany, a term obtained by mixing “smartphone” and “zombie.” Pretty clever, right? Even though the term itself is almost funny, the phenomenon is quite widespread around the world, and people are losing their lives because of it. Hopefully, these new lights named bompeln will reduce casualties in Germany, and maybe similar solutions will be implemented in other cities as well.
