Australia installing ground traffic lights to alert phone addicts

Six-month trial of ground level traffic lights will cost New South Wales state government A$250,000

People are often so glued to their smartphones that it’s really hard for them to look up from their mobile phones’ screens, even while crossing roads.

Now the Australian government, bound by the duty to protect its citizens, is going an extra mile and plans to install traffic lights in the ground.

Fed up of people blindly crossing roads and not looking where they are walking, New South Wales state government is looking to trial ground level traffic lights at key crossings in Sydney from December. A six-month trial of the ground level lights would cost the state government approximately $180,500.

The decision to install traffic lights in the ground was taken after an almost 50 per cent increase in traffic accident related deaths in 2015 in New South Wales.



"Pedestrians are less protected in a road crash, and are therefore more likely to be seriously injured or killed. This is why we need to create a road system that keeps them safe, and this includes situations when they may not be paying attention," Centre for Road Safety Executive Director Bernard Carlon told Mashable Australia.

Locations of the new under-foot traffic lights haven't yet been announced, however, it is expected that they will be installed in five places in Sydney's central business district.

"The lights are aimed at pedestrians using mobile phones who are not looking where they are walking," Carlon said. "They will serve as another layer of warning on top of existing lights and signals."

This is not a first time such an initiative has been introduced. Earlier in April, a similar initiative was rolled out in Augsburg, Germany. The main goal there is to stop phone zombies from walking on train tracks.

The article originally appeared on Mashable

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