The Tel Aviv Municipality installed new LED light strips on the pavements of a central junction in the bustling Israeli city, to protect phone-obsessed "smartphone zombies" from stepping into traffic and reduce potential injuries.
Wired to the traffic lights at a floor level, the LED strips change from red to green according to their source in an effort to grab pedestrians' attention.
The pilot project, which kicked off a few days ago, is meant to change pedestrians' behavior, Tomer Dror, the head of Tel Aviv's Traffic Management Division, told Reuters. He said that the data collected in the past several days shows that people are indeed taking their eyes off their devices, using the strips as a stopping point and that in general. this reduces safety hazards.
The initiative drew mixed reactions from passers-by.
"The zombies are zombies. โฆ They don't see anything," said 64-year-old Meir Wigoder, while his fellow Tel Aviv resident, Vered Baram, praised the action.
Tel Aviv is not the first city to institute a special safety measure for people who text and walk. Many cities around the world grapple with how to protect phone-obsessed "smartphone zombies" from injuring themselves by stepping into traffic or running into stationary objects. Similar trials have been carried out in Singapore, Australia and Germany.
