Reader Response Final

In the article “Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road”, Tan (2017) reports that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is conducting trails by setting up a new road-crossing feature at selected locations which involve fixing LED strips onto pavements by those pedestrian crossings. These strips will imitate signals of the regular pedestrian crossings, walking green man to be lighted green lights, flashing green man to be flashing green lights and standing red man to be lighted red lights. According to the article by the author, Gopinath Menon, a senior research fellow from Nanyang technological University, stated that the installation of the floor lights would enhance the safety of pedestrians who are constantly looking at their smartphones as they are unaware of the road condition.

While I think this implementation is a good solution towards the safety of pedestrians particularly in regards that their vision is glued to their phones and are still able to notice the floor lights, I feel that it would not be a long-term solution to solve the issue of ‘Smartphone zombies’ as it does not help the pedestrians to change their habit of looking down on the phone when crossing the street.

As mentioned in the article, ‘It is a problem that major cities around the world are trying to cope with’, Tan (2017) explains that “Smartphone Zombies” is a problem that is occurring throughout the major cities. Multiple countries such as Singapore have been implementing different solutions, however it is unable to stand out as a long-term effectiveness onto the pedestrians.

In my opinion, the solution should not focus solely on enhancing the safety aspects of pedestrians crossing, but at the same time, instil the habit to put away their phones when approaching the pedestrian crossing. One of the few reasons that are leading people into the obsession of smartphone usage is because of the advancement of technology in the environment.

According to an article “what are kids thinking when crossing the street?”, Margetta (2015) Crossing the road is a simple and fundamental skill that is learn through the process of growing up. We were educated on the basics of crossing of roads such as, looking left and right, checking of oncoming vehicles and put our hands up when crossing. All these basics slowly becomes a habit that is instilled into each individual. Due to the technological advancements and the need of smartphone devices to be integrated into our life, it has led to the term “Smartphone Zombies” being created. With floor lights being introduced as a trail, it is encouraging people to carry on in using their devices which should not be happening.

What we should be looking at is to re-educate people by implementing solutions that are able to discourage the usage of smartphone devices while crossing the road. It is important to educate people now to prevent the future generations from following the bad habits. There is a saying that goes ‘Old habits die hard’, if the future generation are following the bad habits of road crossing from a young age, it will be very difficult to change their bad habits when they become adults. Therefore, it is essential for countries to focus on re-educating people rather than coming up with solutions that only emphasize on safety.

In conclusion, ‘Floor lights’ may be able to enhance the safety aspects of pedestrians crossing and target “Smartphone Zombies”, but it is unable to provide a long-term solution to tackle the bad habits of “Smartphone Zombies”.

Reference

Christopher Tan (2017, May 10). Dubbed "Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road. Retrieved September 24 2017, from www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/floor-lights-help-smartphone-zombies-keep-eye-on-the-road

Rob Margetta (2015, June 29). Dubbed “what are the kids thinking when crossing the street?” Retrieved September 27 2017, from https://phys.org/news/2015-06-fundamental-safety-questionwhat-kids-street.html