City gives in to people who text and walk, embeds traffic lights in sidewalk - CNET

Yes, lights in the concrete. Yes, on the ground. Yes, the world has gone charmingly potty. (You can see the lights in action here.)

Tradition has it that Germans like to follow rules. But how can they see and obey traffic signals when their heads are permanently bent toward Facebook?

Embedding traffic lights in the ground is a far more draconian measure than, as one or two cities have tried, giving texting walkers their own lanes.

Somehow, I worry. I fancy that many texting walkers notice nothing but their screens. I wonder if these ground-lights will enter their consciousness at all.

However, an Augsburg city spokeswoman told Germany's N-TV that the lights create "a whole new level of attention."

Oh, perhaps in Germany. I wonder if it might be the same elsewhere. They're not called zombie texters for nothing, are they? (In Germany, this is shortened to "smombie.")

We enjoy stories of walking texters who fall into mall fountains and even into Lake Michigan.