Thursday, March 06, 2008

Britain Pads Lampposts

Talk about your nanny state.

Padded lampposts are being trialled in a London street to protect inattentive pedestrians.

A pilot scheme has been launched in Brick Lane after it was found to have the highest number of ‘walking and texting’ injuries in the country.

A study carried out by 118 118 found one in ten people has hurt themselves while focused on their mobile phone screen.

The charity Living Streets is so concerned that it has teamed up with the directory enquiries service to test a scheme to wrap up the nation’s lampposts.

I share Nick’s reaction.

Words escape me.

(2) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1858 hrs
Foreign Affairs

  1. My friend, who lives over “there”... says, “Ah, 118 118 is involved… that means it’s a publicity stunt.”

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 06, 2008 at 2225 hrs


  2. True suddenly relevant story. I used to walk to school, often across Croydon and in Coulsdon, in, yes England. I more often than not was reading a book while I was walking. A lot of people at school used to tell me that when they were being driven by or at a light, they would see me and see me headed straight for lampposts, centimetres away. With a sense of regret they said as they waited for the big clang they would see me look up and walk around. I never hit a lamppost, or a tree or a fence, though I can say I occasionally tripped across an uneven pavement.

    Temple

    Posted by Temple Stark on March 06, 2008 at 2354 hrs


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