Lithuania has banned the use of phones on its roads in a bid to reduce traffic accidents. Pedestrians in the Baltic state will have to do without mobile devices when they cross streets under a new regulation approved on Wednesday.
“Pedestrians must not use mobile devices before stepping onto the street or walking across it,” Transport Minister Rokas Masiulis told a cabinet meeting that was broadcast live.
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Starting next month, crossing the street while talking on or checking a phone could cost Lithuanians a fine of up to 40 euros ($46). Honolulu introduced a similar law last year, though the state capital of Hawaii only banned viewing a mobile device during crossings, not talking on the phone.
Last year, 68 pedestrians were killed by cars or motorcycles in Lithuania, a eurozone member of 2.8 million people. The rate of Lithuanian pedestrian deaths is the third worst in the European Union, after Romania and Latvia, according to the latest official data.
Traffic authorities across the world have come out with innovative solutions to deal with the menace of pedestrian texting and screen-watching.
The city of Chongqing, China demarcated texting lanes as a means to prevent ‘zombie hordes of texters’ from colliding with others. It was a tongue-in-cheek reminder of the dangers of walking with your eyes on the screen. Those using their cellphones of course have not heeded the markings on the pavement, an official had said at that time.
In Washington DC, the National Geographic museum drew similar lanes and Cleveland tried talking buses which will announce when taking a sharp turn. A mobile phone repair company project in the Belgian city of Antwerp painted a narrow ‘text walking lane’ on several streets, which the city officials were quick to renounce as ‘a form of graffiti which is strictly forbidden in our city.’
The most long-term step has been taken by city of Augsburg, Germany. It has installed traffic lights on the ground for smombies – a German term for smartphone users who stagger about cities like zombies, oblivious to the risk.