UK road signs could be placed in the ground for people fixated on their phones - Sensationalist Headlines

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/lifestyle/cars/car-news/road-signs-uk-glued-ground-zombie-pedestrians-phones/ Road signs and lights should be embedded in the pavement to stop “zombie pedestrians” stepping in front of cars, according to government advisor. Shaun Helman believes that redesigning the country’s streets would have a more constructive impact on road safety than trying to modify the behaviour of Britons addicted to their screens. He argues that placing important signage where people are looking – on the floor for those staring at their phone screens – could help reduce the number of pedestrian casualties caused by mobile phone distractions. That could mean sticking road signs on the pavement, embedding lights near kerbs or painting guidelines for pedestrians with their eyes locked on their handsets. Mr Helman, who is chief transportation scientist at the Transport Research Laboratory and advises governments around the world, said even with public education programmes some people would continue with “undesirable behaviour”, according to a report in The Telegraph. He said: “If we are thinking about injury prevention and the dominant ‘safe system’ approach used within road safety, there is actually a strong case for redesigning infrastructure over relying on other methods of changing behaviour. “The important thing is that the system as a whole is designed to ensure the chances of serious injury is minimised. “Thus, if we are to provide information to people dependent on where they are looking, it is vital that this information is placed at points where important decisions need to be made [such as junctions].” His suggestion could see Britain follow the lead of countries such as Holland and China. After a successful trial by technology firm HIG, six towns and cities in Holland are currently installing LED lights in kerbs at junctions which flash red when it isn’t safe to cross. And one German city has installed traffic lights in the pavement. In China some cities have painted designated “zombie pedestrian” lanes for those who fixated on their phones, with arrows to keep them heading in the right direction.

It really is your own problem if you aren't looking where you're going.

I think they should start doing some serious safety stuff in secondary schools when kids are in their teens. I recently got my forklift certification and they made us watch some consequences of not paying attention, needless to say it wasn't a nice watch. People too often consider themselves invincible and do wildly stupid shit. Seeing the consequences is a pretty humbling thing.

?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oB6DN5dYWo

Y'all sound like some granddads with this "yer should watch wer her going!!" crap. Phones have drastically altered our movement and it's not unwise to adapt our systems to reflect that. His suggestion could see Britain follow the lead of countries such as Holland and China. After a successful trial by technology firm HIG, six towns and cities in Holland are currently installing LED lights in kerbs at junctions which flash red when it isn’t safe to cross. And one German city has installed traffic lights in the pavement. Guarantee if this news article was about Holland people would be praising it.

Yeah, I kinda feel like even though it's entirely the user's own fault for not being aware of their surroundings, we should definitely start looking at ways to improve our infrastructure for this behaviour.

This first one just seems so insanely stupid Even in the heat of a moment, how could you possibly think you were going to actually pull the thing back down Fucking brainless

People should be accountable to not walk into fucking traffic. Doing this is essentially giving people the idea that "yes, it's alright to be dangerously ignorant of your surroundings because we will suit the environment so you have not that much less of a chance dying than if you were to not be looking at your phone in the first place"

Okay but does changing viewpoints of a country of 70 million seem any easier? Upgrading infrastructure is never a bad option anyway it's literally just a few LEDs and it's proven to have worked elsewhere. You don't even need a phone to be distracted. Also crossing lights are wank anyway I see ZERO negatives to installing these things.

It's a strange thing people do, but it's really common in industries with stupidly heavy weights. My friend was a banksman slinger (attaches stuff to cranes) and he was telling me it's the same in that industry, people have a strange tendency to try and stop massive swinging weights with their own weight, of course most end up losing their arms if they are lucky, or just get smooshed against the side of a wall if they were really in the way.

Unfortunately, safety measures need to accommodate idiots too. It isn't realistic to change people's behaviour, it is probably cheaper and more effective in the long run to adapt safety measures to new behaviour.

The upkeep of LED bulbs is negligible barring vandalism or intentional damage. These systems last nearly 10 years. "Common sense" is a weak excuse because I guarantee everyone has had a lapse of judgement or been distracted by a device at some point in their life. Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it won't ever.

Nah, it's fucking retarded to not watch where you're going no matter what. We should work around it because people are inattentive morons but it's still their fault if they end up becoming a red streak on the road because they couldn't be bothered looking where they're going.

The only instance I can actually see this working is someone using their weight to get directly between a heavy object and another person by pushing them or something to save their life The tenancy should be to get the fuck away from heavy objects as fast as possible

It could also be a two way street, making drivers pay attention to the road because they are also on their phones. If LED's turned red when people are present on the walkway and road could lead to saving alot of lives either way.

Using your phone while driving is already illegal in most places to my knowledge, definitely is in most, if not all, of the US. When driving it's especially one's responsibility to actually be aware of their surroundings. Far too many people seem to forget that they're piloting a massive hunk of metal flying down the street at high speed. But in contrast even when you're aware of your surroundings a massive hunk of flying metal doesn't exactly stop very quickly either. This is why all the idiots in my state who seem to think that "pedestrians have the right of way" means they can just walk right out into the street no matter what are still clearly in the wrong even if they're actually looking where they're going.

I don't want to watch it for obvious reasons, but what happens in it? From what you've said about it and from the thumbnail i can't figure out what the situation involves.

I think we all know without question that making things illegal doesn't stop people from doing stuff. I was only saying that the infrastructure could save lives from both pedestrians walking in front of cars and cars not paying attention to what they are doing. I'm all for common sense and awareness, but this LED system not only sounds like a great idea, it would probably look badass too.

The fork truck tilts forward, someone runs up behind it and tries to pull it back down, ends up under it, the truck levers back and crushes him.

If they're so enveloped in their phone that they can't see the road and walk into it, they're not gonna see the signs either. Installing expensive floor lighting at every intersection in the city sounds like a good money drain. Would probably be cheaper just fence off the sidewalk 10 feet from the crossing zone and install automatic gates. http://www.cisco-eagle.com/catalog/images/category/AisleCop/Forklift_In_Aisle.JPG Like that but for roads.

Imagine thinking that people being dangerously inattentive and shaping the world for these people is completely acceptable. Phones have altered our world but not always in a good way boyo. Texting and talking while driving kills far too many a year and we shouldn't try to change laws to be accepting of this, including pedestrian cell phone use.

That sounds more expensive than some LEDs that already have the tech from traffic lights.

I get the feeling that life will start feeling like we are cattle being herded around streets more than we already are. I'd rather not see a nanny state go THIS far.

I'm not even against doing this honestly. These people are still going to be total morons about their own safety regardless so it's going to end up being a safety hazard either way. My point is that it's still their responsibility if they want to continue being morons and we shouldn't simply offload that responsibility elsewhere is all.

Why would signs on the road telling you to look where you're going work, when the problem is people not looking at shit, primarily of all things, the road the sign is on? If you're walking, and are so distracted you don't see the road, the shock of misstepping down the curb without seeing it is going to be far more effective than a sign. And if you get onto the road while negotiating the curb, you know it's there, ergo you know you're on the road. So not paying attention is willful negligence, plain and simple. The solution is cultural norms which mock people for being negligent with their phone. Not the state putting foam edges on everything, which lacks any kind of incentive for people to improve their behavior, because to them, everyone else scampers around them trying to accomdiate their bad behaviour like old popeye cartoons where he protects sweet pea aimlessly wandering around through factories 'n shit. The problem either doesn't improve, or actively gets worse at great cost to the taxpayer.

No, its just most of us are adults and have A: witnesses catastrophe, B: Know what our machinery can do, C: are smart enough to know that bad choices have consequences. If you are walking in a busy area it should be common sense to pay attention to your surroundings. If you are trying a car or any machinery it should be common sense to pay attention to your surroundings. If both parties are paying attention the likelihood of an tragic accident happening is reduced. It's called minimizing risk. Society has lived without phones for ages and cellphones are relatively new, if you cannot seriously spend a few minutes focusing on where you are going then you have issues. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've nearly been in an accident because some dumbass was on their phone while trying to merge lanes and nearly sideswiped me. Imagine if I had not been paying attention, then the accident would have happened. Its the main reason I fucking wired a dashcam to my car. I'm all for things that make society safer, specially more warning signs that attract peoples attention. But, don't pass off people are being old grumpy bastards and don't dismiss peoples viewpoints as being outdated. Everyone before you actually posted some form of a rational argument. You have failed to do so other than emotional appeals.

You brought up a point towards why this is a good thing. Even if you are paying attention, it is pretty common for you to be involved in near misses and accidents because of other people who aren't. Anything that might reduce the number of people walking into roads without looking not only prevents them from hurting themselves, but it also prevents them from hurting other people with their stupidity.

Well apparently people can't be responsible for their own safety and there are calls to make the crosswalk safer. When I was a kid it was very simple, they told us to stop and look both ways, it's worked that way for decades. But for some people, that's just not easy enough and they have to be herded to stop themselves from blindly walking into traffic.

Signs at head level, directly in front of street crossings. People paying attention go around. People who aren't, LEARN.