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Railway operators across the country and three major mobile companies are jointly urging commuters in a campaign to stop using their smartphones while walking, a practice known in Japanese as 歩きスマホ (arukisumaho).
The campaign, which commenced on Nov 1, advises pedestrians “to stop texting while walking” and is being promoted throughout 43 JR (Japan Railway) companies in partnership with mobile phone carriers, Fuji TV reported.
Posters placed at platforms and within train cars have been translated into three languages — English, Chinese and Korean — and warn commuters of the dangers of being distracted by their mobile devices.
The campaign will be carried out during November with the aim of reducing the number of incidents in which people, engrossed in their mobile devices, bump into each other or fall off train platforms onto tracks.
© Japan Today
7 Comments
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Goodlucktoyou
Finally someone's on my side! Been saying for years that two empty cans and a piece of string is the answer. No junk mail, no phone charges.
since1981
Good Luck with this one.
bones
This is comical!
kazetsukai
It may sound funny, but it can become a major issue worldwide. It affects not only lives, but also major industries like insurance companies (auto, accident, life, medical, liability, etc.) and government at all levels.
If a person dies because of using smartphone and gets into an accident, is it intentional as in suicide or was it really an accident?
Who is liable when a person walks onto the street while using a smartphone?
Who pays for the cost of all the barricades that may have to be built just to prevent people from waling off a cliff or even onto traffic while using a smartphone?
Basically when one really gets down to the core of the matter... it is plain "stupidity" of the user.
Illogical
Yes nothing holds a person's attention more than phone addiction. I've seen so many unnecessary and totally avoidable accidents happen by zombies glued to their phones whilst walking the streets, some funny and others you just shake your head at. I'll never forget this young Chinese lady all dress up ready for a big night in the city walking along the street reading her phone and being oblivious to her surrounding pedestrians adjusting their course to avoid a nasty spill of something that looked revolting. Well she walked straight into it, then slipped and landed in it... great way to start a night out...
Carcharodon
arukisumaho? nah Keitai zombies (Keizom) is better