Although many people do it, texting while walking can often be hazardous, or at least annoying to people who get bumped into when others participate in this "distracted walking."
Now, a university in Utah hopes that its new "texting lanes" will prevent texters from hurting themselves and others by giving them their own lane for walking on stairways in its student center.
That's right, Utah Valley University has given those people who walk and text at the same time their own walking lane.
"When you have 18- to 24-year-olds walking on campus glued to their smartphones, you're almost bound to run into someone somewhere; it's the nature of the world we live in," said UVU's creative director Matt Bambrough in a press release. "But that isn't the reason we did it - we used that fact to engage our students, to catch their attention and to let them know we are aware of who they are and where they're coming from. The design was meant for people to laugh at rather than a real attempt to direct traffic flow."
The texting lane at UVU became so popular that a photo of one stairway marked with three lanes - one for walkers, one for runners and one for texters - became viral and received nationwide press coverage.
Sure, we find it entertaining to watch funny videos of people texting and walking into poles and walls, but distracted walking isn't always a laughing matter: it's often dangerous. There has been a steady increase in the U.S. from accidents caused by smartphone users texting while walking.
A 2012 ABC News report shows that the number of accidents related to texting and walking, or "distracted walking" doubled each year the news organization studied. In 2011, more than 1,000 people ended up in emergency rooms because of such accidents.
Distracted walking has become such a problem that one town, Fort Lee, NJ, started going after those who text and walk, many who ignore traffic signals, jaywalk or inadvertently wander into traffic.
"It's a big distraction," Fort Lee Police Chief Thomas Ripoli said to MyFoxNY.com. "pedestrians aren't watching where they're walking, they're not aware."
So will UVU's walking lanes have much of an impact? Considering that those who text and walk probably don't pay much attention to their surroundings in the first place, it's likely they won't even notice the change. However, the university's texting lane has sparked conversation about distracted walking, and that's always a good start in pointing out a major societal problem.
Photo Credit: UVU
