Sending text messages while walking is going to be a lot easier from now on. Well, at least it will be if you are in the Belgian city of Antwerp.
This is because the city has provided mobile phone users with so-called text walking lanes. The idea is that people can use their mobile devices here without the risk of bumping into pedestrians. Of course, there would appear to be the possibility that phone users bump into each other while on these lanes.
This is a temporary measure at the moment, and it was inspire by an idea from a local smartphone business. They say that there are a high number of cases of phones being damaged in text walking accidents.
Endangering Your Own Life
Mlab is a smart phone lab in Antwerp. Their spokesperson said that we all tend to walk through the streets paying more attention to “whatever is happening on your screen” rather than on the surroundings. They even claim that you could be “endangering your own life” by using your phone outside without looking up.
Will this catch on elsewhere? There is certainly a possibility. After all, there are now said to be more mobile phones on Earth than there are human beings. The US Census Bureau recently estimated that there are 7.2 billion people and 7.5 billion mobile phones on the planet.
A similar scheme was tried out in Washington DC not too long ago, but this is the first attempt at introducing text walking lanes in Europe. If the idea is a success then they could be made permanent.
Would you use a text walking lane like this?
image courtesy of Daily Mail
