BEIJING (AP) — Taking a cue from an American TV program, the Chinese city of Chongqing has created a smartphone sidewalk lane, offering a path for those too engrossed in messaging and tweeting to watch where they’re going.
But the property manager says it’s intended to be ironic — to remind people that it’s dangerous to tweet while walking the street.
“There are lots of elderly people and children in our street, and walking with your cellphone may cause unnecessary collisions here,” said Nong Cheng, the marketing official with Meixin Group, which manages the area in the city’s entertainment zone.
Meixin has marked a 50-meter (165-foot) stretch of pavement with two lanes: one that prohibits cellphone use next to one that allows pedestrians to use them — at their “own risk.”
Nong said the idea came from a similar stretch of pavement in Washington D.C. created by National Geographic Television in July as part of a behavior experiment.
She said that pedestrians were not taking the new lanes seriously, but that many were snapping pictures of the signs and sidewalk.
“Those using their cellphones of course have not heeded the markings on the pavement,” she said. “They don’t notice them.”
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Every metropolitan area should take heed. Apparently too few individuals have awareness of the driving rules or can’t make the stretch to extend those common-sense regulations into their daily walking routine. Add to this the fact that shopping mall culture has eliminated the common sense “walk to the right” mentality that dominated until the 21st Century. New York especially, where people from nations that drive on the left side collide daily with pedestrians walking on the right. Paint an arrow on the sidewalk at intersections so people won’t be banging into each other. Does something like this cost so much?