back to article Chinese city creates footpath for smartphone addicts


  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Footpath to a cliff ?

    Perhaps just lead it to some precipice and let them blindly walk off.

    Reminds me of 1980's Lemmings :-)

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Footpath to a cliff ?

      People walk about reading books all the time without attracting such ire.

    2. Nya

      Re: Footpath to a cliff ?

      They need to have the lemmings music in the background though also!

      LETS GO!!!! de de de dah diddily diddly dah de de di dah....

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Footpath to a cliff ?

      Well the mobile lane does appear to be the one adjoining the road, rather than the one inside by the bridge's railings, so perhaps the intention is those not paying attention will veer from the sidewalk into traffic?

  2. Khaptain Silver badge

    Alternative Suggestion

    The smartphone users should be given express lanes "just on the side of the highway/motorway/autoroute/autobahn".

    If people really need to escape from this world so much that they keep their attention glued to a smartphone rather than their surroundings then I suggest we offer them a rope with a noose on the end.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Alternative Suggestion

      It's jerks like you who MAKE people want to escape the real world!

      1. VinceH

        Re: Alternative Suggestion

        "It's jerks like you who MAKE people want to escape the real world!"

        I wonder if there's an app for that?

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          Re: Alternative Suggestion

          >I wonder if there's an app for that?

          Dare I suggest "Hangman".

    2. h4rm0ny

      Re: Alternative Suggestion

      Why do you suppose information on a smartphone is any less information than that in the world within ten metres of you? Don't be so Realist.

  3. Mr C

    if i had a dog

    i would let it crap on that lane and ... ooh nevermind

    *shoves box of chocolate chips away*

    1. h4rm0ny

      Re: if i had a dog

      Quite right!

      And headphones. I hate headphones which basically block off one of our most important senses, just like looking at a smartphone blocks effectively off sight.

      I mean, I wouldn't mind if they were actually listening to real music, but it's pretty much just repetitive beats with manufactured lyrics.

      And the stupid low crotch trousers which mean you can't walk properly even if you do see or hear something coming towards you.

      And what's with these modern consoles - they're just point and click. In my day you had good games like Arkanoid and Tetris. None of this violence and gore, just good gameplay. You didn't need fancy graphics or 2GB of RAM just for your textures.

      And why do they need "smart" phones anyway? In my day we used to talk to people and we'd turn up on time because we'd said we would, not half an hour late because we'd "txted" so it was okay. And why 'txted' anyway? Allergic to vowels now, are you? Well you missed one at the end there - ha! Not so "smart" now are you, smartphone kids?

      And comedy. None of this Jimmy Carr nonsense with his clever little jokes. We used to have proper absurdist humour. A man sitting at a desk in a field saying "now for something completely different". We didn't need to be clever because we had Surrealism.

      Bah. Kids! Let 'em walk in the dog poo, I say. That'll learn 'em.


    I don't really find them annoying personally

    There are plenty more people 'walking' the streets without paying attention than those with smartphones.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I don't really find them annoying personally

      Was on my bike the other day and had to pass a cyclist with smartphone, with him veering all over the place.

  5. thomas k.

    ... to avoid possible crashes on Fri

    What about the other days of the week?

  6. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge

    Oxford Street

    Many busy pavements (sidewalks) could benefit from having lane segregation; a "dawdle" and a "fast" lane in both directions, even 'hard shoulders' for people browsing in shop windows or stopped to cross the road.

    Most people tend to 'lane' naturally and, like ants, it seems it's mainly follow the leader. It generally works okay until the stream runs into an individual coming the other way, or someone creates a rival stream in the hope of overtaking and getting there faster which invariably causes everyone to jam up as streams start criss-crossing each other.

    I don't think we actually need lane markings; just tell people that's the best way to do it as it seems some people simply haven't figured it out yet.

    Of course there is no way to enforce lanes without impinging on someone's right to do whatever they damn well please, even if that spoils things for the rest of us. Unless we introduce draconian punishments for not walking in correct file. That did work for 'school crocodiles' so perhaps we need some form of detention; fenced-off areas where people have to stand it out for some time for not doing it right. Whining down the pub later won't get them any sympathy if the majority buy into the idea.

  7. Yugguy

    These people should be shot.


    Aimless meandering whilst posting utter drivel on Facebook should be punishable by death.

    Read a story recently about someone who fell off a pier into the sea while mindlessly looking at her smartphone.

    Good, I thought. Might teach you some bloody sense.

    1. GrumpyOldBloke

      Might teach you some bloody sense

      Mmmm, must buy waterproof phone.

    2. h4rm0ny

      Re: These people should be shot.

      Hey, it's not all Facebook updates, you know? I actually browse The Register on my sm

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: on my sm

        On your what? s&m? smXXXX ?

        Now who was complaining of lacking vowels just earlier? and you miss off the rest of the word.

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          Re: on my sm

          sm = smobe = smart mobe = smart phone.........maybe

          1. h4rm0ny

            Re: on my sm

            Oh *whoosh* at the lot of you. The joke was that I was posting from my smartphone and something happened before I could finish the post...

            Fine, fine, fine. I'll stick to comments saying how much I like my Lumia. At least THAT gets a laugh from you lot!

            1. Khaptain Silver badge

              Re: on my sm

              Whoosh, yes that was definately the sound that went over my head. ( must admit that I didn't pick up on the subtelty)

              Cough Lumia cough - you don't actually bring that out in public do you ?

  8. smartypants

    My Genius solution: You read it here first (Hands off Apple!)

    ...a 'top-facing' camera which, when a phone is held during pavement-reading activities, can be your eyes.

    The image captured by this camera is projected on to the screen and the facebook shit sits transparently over the top!

    1. VinceH

      Re: My Genius solution: You read it here first (Hands off Apple!)

      Unfortunately, Apple are already ahead of you on that one - their patent application seems to be for using the forward facing camera (which would only work if the phone is held at a suitable angle), but other than that, they've thought of it.

      Sick of walking into things while gawping at your iPhone? Apple has a patent app. for that

  9. Anonymous Coward

    Who says the Chinese copy things...

    Oh me.

  10. Chris G Silver badge

    Humans right?

    I agree with how annoying, irritating and possibly dim some of these earphone wearing, texting and gaming people are in the street but for all you small minded whingers and moaners suggesting horrible ends, rules and treatment for them: They are exercising exactly the same rights that you are using to whinge. Or should there be separate rules for obviously sensible people like your good selves?

    People who want to take other peoples rights away should be pushed into fast moving traffic! Don' t you all agree?

    1. Khaptain Silver badge

      Re: Humans right?

      Since we live in a Society it is necassary to apply certain principals/rules/laws. The first of which is known as common decency.

      Common decency = I respect you, you respect me.

      If I walk down the street, head hung low not bothering my arse about who or what I bump into then I should fully expect that I will eventually bump into something that is bigger, stronger, smarter than I am. At such times I should also expect to feel a sharp pain from said object kicking, slapping, punching me for lacking common decency.

      By walking down the street, completely oblivious to everyone else with that "couIdn't give a fuck attitude because I have to update FB" then you automatically portray that your EGO is bigger and more important than all around you. In such cicumstances

      There is a HUGE difference between exercising ones right to do as one pleases when in "private" as there is to exercising ones right to do as one pleases when in "public".

      Public = that which we "share" collectively.

      Private = that which we choose to do outside of the public sphere.

      Common decency is becoming a lost art.. humans rights appear to be slowly becoming synonymous with "everyman for himself ".

    2. Khaptain Silver badge

      Re: Humans right?


      Please define "people's rights"... I am conviced that you will quickly fall into a quagmire of confusion and Pot calling Kettle Blackness.

  11. Anonymous Coward

    “Someone even parked a car on the sidewalk”

    I am guessing this was written by someone who hasnt spent ANY time in mainland China; coming out of your apartment on the 15th floor, you look left and right for oncoming scooters!!!

    Bikes, cars, buses, coaches, lorries, rickshaws, etc, will use any and every flattish ground to make progress, wrong side of a dual carriageway?? never mind, just ring your bell/sound your horn a lot!!!

    More than once the bus I was on decided to cut through a pedestrian shopping precinct to avoid a particularly contentious set of traffic lights (not sure why they have them though, nobody pays them any attention).

  12. Trigonoceps occipitalis

    Footpath for smart 'phone addicts

    About as likely as stopping CLOG members blocking motorways.

    (CLOG - Central Lane Owners Group)

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The correct portmanteau word for people behaving like this is 'meanderthal'

  14. Amorous Cowherder

    Alright it's a stupid example but does point a very clear lesson that the Asian countries take technology and its use very seriously, that's just one of the reasons their economy's are growing at a rapid rate compared to ours in the west. We need to be just as daft as them in trying to find innovative ways to harness technology for everyone's benefit. It's a funny joke but with a serious message underneath!

  15. Sureo

    Demolition derby...

    So what's to stop people using phones in the designated area from crashing into other people using phones?

  16. LINCARD1000

    Logical Evolution... (Re: Demolition Derby)

    After that comes a human mobe-molesting version of Robot Wars (I loved that show, what ever happened to it?)... wouldn't that be awesome?

    The carnage would be GLORIOUS.

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