Traffic lights to not look up from the mobile

Many pedestrians walk our streets with their eyes fixed on their smartphone screen, even when crossing the sidewalk, putting themselves in danger due to their distraction. In view of the phenomenon, and as a result of the case of the death of a teenager run over by a tram, in the German city of Augsburg they have decided to place lines of LED lights on the floor of the zebra crossings as traffic lights, so that distracted pedestrians know whether or not they can cross without looking up, inform The Guardian. Some voices in the city doubt the real effectiveness of such a solution and dismiss it as a useless expense, but be that as it may, the distraction of pedestrians due to the use of mobile phones has been confirmed as a real problem.

In a study carried out by DEKRA in different European cities, almost 17% of the 14,000 observed pedestrians used their smartphone while crossing traffic lanes. The percentage rose to 22% in the 25-35 age range. Pedestrians account for 22% of traffic deaths in the European Union, and most of these deaths occur in urban areas.