The use of smartphones while walking is prohibited in a suburb of Tokyo.
Yamato, Japan:
A suburb of Tokyo on Wednesday imposed Japan’s first ban on a worldwide habit: pedestrians glued to their phone screens while walking, sometimes dangerously oblivious to their environment.
Visitors arriving at Yamato city station were greeted by banners announcing the new ban, which applies to all walking on public roads, squares and parks in the neighborhood.
“The use of smartphones while walking is prohibited. Please use your smartphones after you have stopped walking,” warned a recorded female voice.
There is no punishment for those who can’t get off their screens on the street, but the suburb of 240,000 residents wants to use the order to highlight the dangers of scrolling while walking.
This unusual move appears to have received widespread support from citizens, young and old, with very few people on the streets of Yamato spotted violating the new rule.
“I often see people using cellphones while walking. They don’t pay attention to the things around them. Seniors may not be able to dodge them,” said Kenzo Mori, 64.
“Using a cell phone is addictive … People seem to feel they can’t stop looking at their cell phones and they have to feel constantly connected with friends,” he explained to AFP.
Teenage Arika Ina said that she often saw people watching their screens while walking and thought the habit was dangerous.
But she said people should wander around without their phones in the grip of common decency, and questioned the need for legislation.
“I don’t think we need a prescription to ban it. You can stop it by being a little more careful,” said the 17-year-old.
Research by Japanese mobile giant NTT Docomo in 2014 found that pedestrians lost 95% of their field of vision while looking at a smartphone.
The company performed a computer simulation of what would happen if 1,500 people crossed the road outside Shibuya station in Tokyo – the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world – while simultaneously looking at their smartphones.
The results showed that two-thirds would not go to the other side without incident, with 446 person-to-person collisions and 103 people overturned.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
