We’d like to think smartphones provide information-hungry users with opportunities to grow their appreciation of words and how they’re used. But most likely the users are checking email or sending messages. Depending on when that happens, it can prove dangerous, especially on the road – not only for drivers of motor vehicles, but also for oblivious pedestrians.

Assuming you can’t change the behaviour, the city of Augsburg, Germany installed warning lights in the ground, at two locations near tram tracks, that turn red when it’s too dangerous to cross the street. The system may help to improve safety among the mobile user crowd that tends to look down.

Things are looking up in Stockholm, Sweden as well. By posting a triangular sign earlier in the year, an artist intended to get people to stop potentially dangerous behaviour on urban streets. Motorists passing through this area, on the other hand, will see the sign as a warning that texting or surfing smartphone users could suddenly appear in their path.

Admonitions for drivers to stop texting are often more explicit. And, perhaps adding words and a crossed-out pictogram makes them clearer.

In any case, we can look forward to more communication, with illustrations and text, to caution us against one of our more common yet increasingly dangerous habits – being engrossed in words.



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