A Dutch town put traffic lights in the pavement because people won’t stop staring at their smartphones

HIG
Traffic Systems

A Dutch town has introduced an unusual way of trying to keep
smartphone-addicted residents safe: Installing traffic lights in
the pavement.

Bodegraven, in the Netherlands, has put strip lights in the floor
at a pedestrian crossing — meaning people who stare at their
phones all day will see them, preventing them from wandering
dangerously into traffic. (We heard about
the news via the BBC.)

Apart from their unusual location, they work just like
ordinary traffic lights: Green means go, and red means wait.

HIG Traffic Systems

The lights are built by HIG Traffic Systems, a company based
in the town, which hopes to sell them more widely to
other towns and cities,
The Guardian reports. Right now they’re just being used at a
single intersection in a trial.

A spokesperson for the company
told Dutch-language site OmroepWest: “Smartphone use by
pedestrians and cyclists is a major problem. Trams in The Hague
regularly make an emergency stop because someone looks at their
smartphone instead of traffic.”

However, the lights have also proved controversial. “It’s
not a good idea to help mobile phone users look at their phones,”
Dutch Traffic Safety Association employee Jose de Jong
reportedly said.

“We don’t want people to use phones when they’re dealing with
traffic, even when walking around. People must always look around
them, to check if cars are actually stopping at the red signals.”