A German city is so concerned about the safety of pedestrians who can't peel their eyes off their phone screens, it has come up with a novel solution.
Augsburg, in Bavaria, has installed traffic lights in the ground at pedestrian crossings, hoping mobile phone zombies - or smombies as they have become known - may notice when they flash red.
A statement by the city says it is testing the lights at two locations to enhance safety for smartphone users.
"A quick note to friends or choosing the next song works well on the way to work or school, but looking into a smartphone can lead to dangerous situations in traffic," the statement said.
The LED lights are placed along the curb and flash red when the pedestrian crossing lights turn red and when a tram or vehicle approaches.
"The LEDs are clearly visible even from a distance," the statement said.
"We realised that the normal traffic light isn't in the line of sight of many pedestrians these days," Stadtwerke Augsburg employee Tobias Harms said, according to a Huffington Post report.
"So we decided to have an additional set of lights. The more we have, the more people are likely to notice them."
The lights are not the only solution cities are finding to deal with the problem.
Dedicated mobile phone or "texting lanes" have been created in Chongqing, China, Antwerp, Belgium, and Kasetsart University in Thailand, while in Victoria, pedestrians who step out in front of a car while using their phones risk a $76 fine.
