Texting-while-walking can be a dangerous — or at least an annoying — phenomenon.
Now, smartphone users have their own lane on a 50-meter stretch of sidewalk in Chongqing, China.
The property manager where the sidewalk is located said the cellphone and no-cellphone lanes are supposed to be ironic — a reminder of the dangers of using your phone while walking, the Associated Press reports.
“There are lots of elderly people and children in our street, and walking with your cellphone may cause unnecessary collisions here,” said Nong Cheng, the marketing official with Meixin Group, in an interview with AP.
The idea was inspired by an experiment by National Geographic Television. In July, the channel set up cellphone and no-cellphone lanes in Washington, D.C.
But in D.C., many people just ignored the sidewalk markings or took pictures of the signage.