Tarmac 'traffic lights' for mobile addicts on pedestrian crossing
Tarmac 'traffic lights' for mobile addicts on pedestrian crossing
A TOWN near Barcelona has fitted traffic lights to the tarmac on a heavily-used pedestrian crossing so walkers engrossed in their mobile phones do not get run over.
Sant Cugat del Vallès has spent €5,000 on cat's-eye type red and green lights on either side of the zebra in the Plaça dels Quatre Cantons, one of its most-frequented streets.
This way, if anyone is too busy checking their Facebook or WhatsApp messages to watch where they are going, they will know when the 'mainstream' traffic lights are red and not to cross the road.
The tarmac spotlights have been fitted right in the field of vision of a person walking with their eyes on their mobile screen.
Pedestrians getting run over because they were glued to their phones when they crossed the road are becoming an ever-increasing statistic, prompting a growing number of towns and cities in Europe to fit lines of traffic lights alongside zebras, with Augsburg and Cologne (pictured) in Germany being pioneers, and has even extended to Australia, starting in the State of New South Wales.
The move is said to be working well and reducing casualties.
Sant Cugat says it may repeat the process on all its other main roads.
