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Smartphone zombie


A smartphone zombie (or smombie) is a pedestrian who walks slowly and without attention to their surroundings because they are focused upon their smartphone. This has been reported as a significant safety hazard, as distracted pedestrians cause accidents. Cities such as Chongqing and Antwerp introduced special lanes for smartphone users in 2014 and 2015, to help direct and manage them.

In 2014, China had over five hundred million smartphone users and more than half of them have a phone addiction. In Hong Kong, they are called dai tau juk ("the head-down tribe").

Texting pedestrians may trip over curbs, walk out in front of cars and bump into other walkers. The field of vision of a smartphone user is estimated to be just 5% of that of an undistracted pedestrian.

An app which uses the phone's camera to make it seem transparent can be used to provide some warning of hazards. In Augsburg and Cologne, ground-level traffic lights embedded in the pavement have been introduced so that they are more visible to preoccupied pedestrians. In Seoul, warning signs were placed on the pavement at dangerous intersections following over a thousand road accidents caused by smartphones in South Korea in 2014.


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Wikipedia

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