In the future, when you walk with your eyes glued to your cell phone screen, you will not even have to lift them to see if you can cross the street.
The Dutch city of Bodegraven is already testing a new system, which comes to complement the traditional traffic lights. It is a thin strip of LED lights that is placed on the sidewalk and depending on its color (green or red), indicates to the pedestrian if it is safe to cross.
The program called "+ Light Line" is implemented by the Dutch company HIG Traffic Systems, according to the BBC and New Scientist.
A local government spokesman said: "People are increasingly abstracting with social media, video games, WhatsApp and music, to the detriment of their attention to traffic."
A spokesman for HIG said: "The use of smartphones by pedestrians and cyclists is a serious problem. "Trams are often forced to stop abruptly, because one looks at one's mobile phone instead of the traffic."
At the moment, the light strips are placed on sidewalks near schools, but will soon be extended to other parts of the Dutch city.
Similar bright sidewalks are being tested in the German city of Augsburg
However, there are skeptics who disagree with the idea, believing that it just helps people become "mobile zombies".
Source: RES - EIA
VISIT WEBSITE