Ok. I have to tell you about this story in The Guardian, because it made me guffaw. Not just laugh, but properly guffaw like a redneck… It seems we now have a new mobile phone phenomenon in Britain. Not content with happy slapping, stealing phones, and running over a granny whilst answering a call, we Brits are now falling prey to “Walking & Texting” injuries.
Yes, you read that right… walking and texting injuries. Ok, I’ve heard some funny injuries in my time, but this should be interesting… *pricks up ears*
It seems that in an effort to curb “walk’n'text” (oh come on, that name was to good not to use!) injuries, Brick Lane in London has already had some work done to it. And this is the bit I guffawed at…
Padded lampposts…
Excuse me a second…
BWAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ok, I’ve got that out of my system. Apparently, people are walking along, texting away (yep, just like in the T Mobile advert), and since they’re not paying attention, they’re walking into lampposts, into other people, and under buses.
Can we say ‘Darwin Awards’…?
Anyway, there are a number of initiatives to prevent these accidents from happening, such as the aforementioned padding of lampposts (which, to my mind, would still hurt), and creation of a ‘mobile motorway’, painted lines on the pavement, where texters can wander along happily, safe in the knowledge there are no obstacles to break their face on (except, presumably other texters, which is a bit of an oversight, if you ask me). All of these methods are, in my opinion, a bit superfluous, really, as I believe I have the best solution to end this spate of morons smashing their faces open unfortunate incidents.
STOP!
TEXTING!
WHILE!
YOU’RE!
WALKING!
I mean it’s simple enough, surely? If you’re walking down a street, where there could be lampposts, other people, walls and/or buses, look where you’re going! And as for the councils thinking they need to pad lampposts, what kind of a litigious, lawsuit-happy world do we live in? I say to the justice system, and lawmakers in this country, if someone walks into a lamppost, don’t let them sue!
Is it wrong that in the current political and world climate, I find it immensely funny that the biggestĂ‚Â danger in the world is a lamppost…?
[EDIT: Ooh, it's not just us who picked up this story! ITN featured on their site as well... annnnnnnd the video is available:
Ok, this has to be a wind-up, surely?? And another thing, who was that bloke saying Britain's pavements are hard to walk down? Is he on glue???!!]
Do you think Technical Markus is right or wrong? Are you sensible about texting? Or do you need your whole world padding? Leave us a comment and have your say!
March 5th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Easy on the formatting there, chief.
People naturally want to do two things at once, so just like calling something while driving, they want to text while walking. Some are better than others at naturally navigating using only the view of the ground, but others are more…err, how should I say this, accident-prone?
In short, people are stupid and just never have enough time, it’s always Go Go Go! It’s like a kid trying to walk while tying his shoelace.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Or…stop walking when you text. Which would be the logical compromise for me. Especially seeing as texting to arrange the impending evening p***-up seems to be more important than surviving the walk to the shops these days.