A Dutch city has installed its own traffic lights specially catered for distracted smartphone users. The pilot project aims to make the pedestrians, who are looking down on their devices, to be aware when it is the right time to cross the street.
The city of Bodegraven, about 25 miles south of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, is testing a pedestrian traffic light. There are people crossing the streets who are focused too much on their social media accounts or whatever game they have on their smartphones that they forget that they are about to cross a street intersection. This will prevent "smartphone zombies," as described by The Verge, to never walk into the oncoming vehicle traffic.
This kind of scenario is a real concern for many cities, which have been finding ways to protect the ever increasing distracted pedestrians. The project in the Dutch City is initially installed on a pedestrian crossing near a school district, and its LED lights on the pavement turn red or green depending on the road traffic light ahead.
Kees Oskam, a member of the town council said, "People are increasingly distracted by the smartphone." He then added, "The attraction of social media, games, WhatsApp and music is great, and comes at the expense of attention to traffic. As a government, we cannot easily reverse this trend, but we can anticipate it." HIG Traffic Systems is the company behind the project and plans to implement the similar system to other municipalities if proven effective.
Meanwhile, a new product called ProtectPax is on IndieGoGo and is raising funds. It is a "liquid glass" protector that the maker claims to add another layer of protection on the display screen of smartphones and tablets. It can effectively deflects bumps and bruises that would cause screen damage, its press release stated through Sat PR News.
ProtectPax is a said to fill the microscopic valleys on a smartphone screen which in turn will strengthen the display. The product testing performed shows that the hardened gel can withstand up to a 9H level of hardness on the Mohs scale. A typical touchscreen has a value of 2H and 3H.
ProtectPax packs start at $39 on its campaign page. Watch the ProectPax video:
