Mobile phone lane for pedestrians in China

In a new twist on a bike lane, Foreigner Street in Chongqing city, China is offering what looks like a pedestrian lane for those who can’t put down their mobile phones.

These “phone lanes” are so phone-addicted citizens can walk around without fear of crashing into other pedestrians or cars with signage painted onto the footpath, dividing it into two lanes. One for people using their phones and one for people who are not.

Chongqing officials say they developed the idea as a polite nudge to oblivious, media-addicted pedestrians to pay better attention to where they’re headed.

This is similar to a behavioural experiment conducted by National Geographic in July this year for a program called “Mind Over Masses.” In the experiment lanes devoted to mobile phone users were painted on Washington, D.C. sidewalks.

The results of the experiment showed that most of the people for whom the lane was intended did not even notice signs placed to announce the foot-traffic designations.

The idea addresses a real problem with a study done by Ohio State University showing that, between 2005 and 2012, trips to the emergency room due to accidents caused by or related to mobile-phone distractions rose from 256 incidents to over 1,500.

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