I've been sick since....oh Tuesday I guess. I think it's the flu. I got the flu shot, why is this still happening? I feel lousy. I don't want to go anywhere or do anything. I'm currently sitting here typing while wearing a cooled gel eye mask. It's bliss. I'd take a picture, but that would require me to move....
Anyhow, I haven't been sleeping well and I've been awake at between 4:30 am-5:30 am every morning, too miserable to sleep anymore. This brings me to this morning's Fox News broadcast. (And a brief infatuation with Chuck Norris' Total Gym info-mercial.) I just assumed that I missed something when I heard the blurb on tv, but after reading the headlines on Fox's website, I apparently was more "with it" than I felt.
The headline reads:
Padded Lampposts Tested in London to Prevent Cell Phone Texting Injuries
That's right folks. London is now adding padding to their lampposts in order to prevent injuries to those pedestrians too stupid to put their cell phone down for two seconds and concentrate on walking instead of texting.
What's more, the article goes on to say that, in a survey conducted by a telephone directory service, "The survey found that almost two thirds of respondents lost peripheral vision while texting, and more than a quarter wanted lines on the pavement to create routes for texters to walk while using their phones.
The study claims that 68,000 people were injured in the U.K. last year while chatting or texting on their cell phone, Infomatics reports."
Someone please tell me that I'm delerious or hallucinating or as sick as I feel, because this is too dumb to be real...isn't it?
6 comments:
Christina,
Too strange. But please reassure me... People don't text-message when they're driving, right?
Wow, that many injured? And just in the UK?
There's an old Jacques Tati movie (Mon Oncle), where some boys try to distract pedestrians from afar at just the right time to make them walk into a lamppost. Now the pedestrians can do it to themselves. Amazing.
Chris,
I'd love to reassure you that this never happens, but I know a certain way-too-smart-for-type-of-behavior lawyer-boy who does that very thing on occasion. Now I can live with him talking on the cell phone while driving, but texting scares me.
But never fear, I'll continue to nag him about this every time it happens....as any good wife should do.
Skyepuppy,
I was shocked at all the injuries too. But seriously, did no one think of warning these people to simply stop texting and walking? I mean, padded lampposts are fine, but what happens at the intersection? Rubber cars?
Christina - This CRACKED me up because while I am a frequent texter, i think it would just serve me right if I fell off the sidewalk or ran into something while I was walking and texting. I certainly don't expect them to revamp the world to protect me!
And I hate to admit this but I am a texter driver. But i only look at the phone to text if I'm at a stoplight or stopsign. Otherwise I do it (very slowly, I'll admit...I'm not very proficient) only by memory. I guess you can nag Andrew AND me.
When I was younger I used to read while I walked (can't put a good book down), but I held the book far enough away that I could see around it with my peripheral vision. I seem to remember hitting a parking meter with my arm, but I don't know if that was when I was reading--I can run into things quite nicely with or without a book/cell phone in front of me.
Maybe if texters hold their phones far enough away from their faces, they won't hit so many lampposts.
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